Do NTs have an automatic ability that Autistics lack?

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Do NTs have an automatic ability that Autistics lack? That would explain why myself, as well as many other people on the Autism spectrum, have problems with executive function, have difficulty with cognitive empathy, and need to plan out conversations in advance.

I'm thinking that the NT brain adapts on a regular basis, to be able to perform certain functions automatically, with little manual thought, whereas the Autistic brain never fully adapts to perform these functions automatically, and always has to use a greater degree of manual thought, to be able to perform these functions.

I'll try to explain this by comparing the brain to a computer. The NT brain stores programs, that are created from experiences, for performing certain functions, to be loaded when they are needed. The Autistic brain is a lot worse at storing programs for many functions, so the programs need to be manually compiled every time they are needed, from information that it has stored. The Autistic brain becomes faster at compiling programs the more information that it attains, but it still lacks the ability to effectively store them. For this reason, the Autistic brain is always working to attain more information, to increase its processing speed, for compiling the programs, to perform these functions. This often results in above average ability to perform functions that were unimpaired by the lack of this program storage ability.

Does this make sense? Is this a revolutionary idea, or is it something that someone else has already suggested?

it is plausible. but my brain seems to work differently from both scenarios.

It seems to me that NTs often have a "filtering" ability that autistics lack.

"NT" is a highly subjective term though, and people passed off as being ones sometimes aren't.

Yes, by definition, social skills are much more difficult for Autists to acquire. That is why Autists often don't have common sense. I know that I was always accused of that as a child.

The autistic brain develops differently from an NT brain. This gives NTs advantages over autistic people in certain things. The ability to engage in spontaneous, rapid-fire, back-and-forth conversation is definitely one of those advantages.

I have ways of interpreting social situations that:

* Ignores what others tend to present as their "social front"
* Identifies what they're trying to hide

I believe it's based on pattern recognition, but without enough "theory of mind" or whatever to confound my perceptions. This is not necessarily helpful in social situations, but it is helpful in determining things like "who really did X."

Well I had this theory too, but I think that depends on the person.
For example, there are tons of auts/asps that are ninjas at memorization, in other examples, there are those auts/asps that are really really good problem solvers, or high processing speed, (Or compilers like you said.) but have a complete lack of memorization ability.
I'm not the best at memorization mainly because I never care to remember anything. People always ask me if I was sheltered my whole life because I ask them about incredibly common knowledge, but I've been an amazing problem solver my whole life.

Another reason we can seem sheltered, or terrible at remembering things, is because our focus literally filters out everything around us except our focus. Basically, that which we don't care about, our brains won't bother to register at all.

On the other hand we have those who obsess over memorization and excel at it.

So I guess it really just depends on the person. Leaving no room for memorization does leave lots of room for processing though. If you care about processing.

NTs have automatic social processing.

I love this bunny so much.

Have you ever known a person who was poor at math? couldn't calculate a percentage in their head?
or on paper?
- they have a weak ability in that area.

I can calculate most stuff in my head without any effort but I don't know what the hell is going on in many social situations - the more complex ones.

- I have a weak ability in that area

The math ability is no big deal because you can whip out a calculator if you need it. Social stuff is a bigger deal - people expect certain responses and they are always judging for nuance.

I don't know what's behind the social deficits but I can relate it to something like math ability and that's all I really need as an explanation.

but how do you fix it????

My analogy for all this is very simple.

The human brain has a CPU (mainstream, general-purpose processing unit) and a GPU (specialized unit that does a limited set of tasks very very fast).

The GPU in this analogy is responsible for social fluidity, being able to come up with graceful responses almost immediately, smoothly transitioning from one person to another at a social gathering, saying the right thing at the right moment with the right tone and volume of voice.

Many Aspies don't have access to their GPU. So all these specialized tasks for which the GPU is optimized, get offloaded on the CPU, which is far broader in its function, but also far less efficient in doing the GPU's job.

That's why in my 20s and earlier I found myself trying to prepare all possible questions and responses that I would have to face at a social gathering. Because I knew that my CPU is incapable of ascertaining the right response in realtime.

My eventually-developed social mask was also powered by the CPU, so whenever something threw me out of expected, pre-planned behavioral patterns, I couldn't adapt on the fly. The mask crumbled and I either would go hide or give blunt responses unsuitable for the context.

After a social gathering I would spend two days feeling completely numb and useless, as my CPU brainstormed and analyzed all the failed social interactions and added on to the every more growing library of "IF-THEN" scenarios that should save my ass at a future social gathering.

Since that time I did reconnect to my GPU partially and now manage to adapt on the fly to some degree, but I remember how it felt, vividly.

My theory:

1) Autists lack the neural experience of social reinforcement in almost all its forms. Whatever reward mechanism is suppose to fire with compliments, praise, or jokes, does not fire the way it is supposed to.

2) There exists a dedicated region of the brain for time-saving complex parallel processing, which requires greater stimulation to adjust the weights of its neural network.

3) NTs utilize the parallel processing region of the brain with social skills, learning, and adaptation. Because of the complex amount of processing, it requires additional reinforcement to utilize, thus, social reinforcement pathways fire to help strengthen this region of the brain for social learning.

4) Autists lack the social reinforcement mechanism necessary for using the parallel processing region of the brain for social learning and instead use serial processing to learn social actions (much slower and limited). The parallel processing region is instead used to perform some kind of gift of parallel calculations, such as having a strong knack at memorizing large sets of data, mathematical computation, pattern detection, music patterns, or literary genius.