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Empathizing, systemizing and autism

Empathizing, systemizing and autism. Simon Baron-Cohen Autism Research Centre Cambridge University. Collaborators. Androgens: Gerald Hackett, Kevin Taylor, Rebecca Knickmeyer, Bonnie Auyeung, Emma Chapman, Svetlana Lutchmaya, Melissa Hines, Ieaun Hughes Genetics:

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Empathizing, systemizing and autism

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  1. Empathizing, systemizing and autism Simon Baron-Cohen Autism Research Centre Cambridge University

  2. Collaborators • Androgens: • Gerald Hackett, Kevin Taylor, Rebecca Knickmeyer, Bonnie Auyeung, Emma Chapman, Svetlana Lutchmaya, Melissa Hines, Ieaun Hughes • Genetics: • Lindsey Kent, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Grant Hill-Cawthorne, Frank Dudbridge, Patrick Chinnery, Sally Wheelwright, Alex Pollitt, Carrie Allison • Neuroimaging • Ed Bullmore, Howard Ring, Lloyd Gregory, Xavier Chitnis, Steve Williams, Mick Brammer, Chris Ashwin

  3. Autism • Social and communication difficulties • narrow interests/obsessions/routines • Classic autism: 4:1 (male:female) • Asperger Syndrome: 9:1

  4. Hans Asperger (1944) “The autistic personality is an extreme variant of male intelligence… In the autistic individual the male pattern is exaggerated to the extreme”

  5. Boys > girls: Toy vehicles, constructional toys, and mechanical toys “systemizing” Girls > boys: Dolls, enacting social and emotional themes “empathizing”

  6. Males > females: maths, computing, physics, engineering, tool-making “systemizing” Females > males: Primary school teaching, nursing, social work, counselling “empathizing”

  7. Empathizing and Systemizing • Empathizing (E) • identify another person’s thoughts and feelings, • respond to these with an appropriate emotion • Systemizing (S) • analyse or build a system • mechanical, natural, abstract, collectible

  8. Different profiles • S > E : more common in males? • E > S : more common in females? • S >> E : more common in autism?

  9. Empathizing

  10. Systemizing

  11. sarcastic stern suspicious dispirited

  12. preoccupied grateful insisting imploring

  13. Eyes Test (max = 25) x sd Males 19.5 2.6 Females 22.1 2.0 AS 16.6 2.9 Fathers 17.3 1.6 Mothers 18.9 2.1 BC et al (1997) JCPP

  14. Finding the target (speed) x sd Males 46.2 20.5 Females 66.7 36.7 AS 32.2 27.0 Fathers 32.8 17.7 Mothers 48.6 31.8 Jolliffe & BC (1997) JCPP

  15. The Empathy Quotient: examples • I really enjoy caring for people • People often tell me I went too far in driving my point home in a discussion • I often find it difficult to judge if something is rude or polite

  16. The Empathy Quotient (max = 80) mean sd Males 41.8 11.2 Females 47.2 10.2 AS 20.4 11.6 BC & Wheelwright (2004) JADD

  17. The Systemizing Quotient: some examples • When I listen to a piece of music, I always notice the way it’s structured • If I were buying a car, I would want to obtain specific information about its engine capacity • If there was a problem with the electrical wiring in my home, I’d be able to fix it myself

  18. The Systemizing Quotient (SQ)(max = 80) mean sd Males 30.3 11.7 Females 24.1 9.5 AS 35.9 15.2 BC et al (2003) Proc Royal Soc

  19. E-S Model Empathizing +3 +3 +2 Type B Systemizing +1 Type E Type S -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 -3 -2 -1 +1 +2 Extreme E Extreme S -1 -1 -2 -2 -3 -3

  20. Look at individuals, not their sex Plotting EQ against SQ (sex-blind) shows distribution is not random Goldenfeld et al (2006) Int J. Clin Neuropsych

  21. Look at individuals, not their sex Plotting SQ and EQ (not sex blind or diagnosis blind) showing the Difference (D) score

  22. Plotting individuals by brain-type

  23. % showing each brain type Goldenfeld et al (2006)

  24. % showing each brain type Goldenfeld et al (2006)

  25. Eye contact at 12-18 months old mean sd Boys 16.1 10.0 Girls 22.0 12.1 Autism 5.2 1.3 Lutchmaya & BC (2001) Infant Behavior and Dev.

  26. Testing sex differences in newborns

  27. % of babies showing a looking preference Face Mobile Equal Boys 25 43 32 Girls 36 17 47 Connellan et al (2000) Infant Behavior and Dev

  28. Amniocentesis: a window on foetal testosterone (FT) FT surge: 12-18 weeks 0.05-2.05 nmol/L in males 0.01-1.0 nmol/L in females d = 2, p < 0.001

  29. Foetal testosterone (FT) • FT masculinizes brain and behaviour • Injection of FT masculinizes female rat brain and behaviour • Produced by testes and adrenal glands • Crosses blood brain barrier, passes through cell membrane and enters cytoplasm • FT binds to androgen receptors in cytoplasm • in sexually dimorphic brain areas • Passes into cell nucleus, binds to DNA and affects transcription • alters neural connectivity, modulates serotonin and GABA transmission and prevents apoptosis

  30. FT predicts eye contact at 12m FT Linear regression: Both sexes B = -2.1, SE = 0.7, p < 0.001 Boys alone B = -2.5, SE = 1.0, p < 0.02 Infant Behav. & Dev. 2002

  31. FT predicts vocabulary at 24m Both sexes, linear reg B = 58.9, SE = 29.6, p < 0.05 Infant Behav. & Dev. 2002

  32. FT predicts Children’s Communication Checklist (CCC) at 48m • Quality of social relationships • B = -1.63, SE = 0.61, p < 0.012 • Restricted interests • B = 1.73, SE = 0.069, p < 0.017 JCPP, 2005

  33. FT predicts Empathy Quotient (EQ) at age 6-9 yrs old. n = 100 boys, 93 girls r = -0.28, p < 0.01 (Chapman et al)

  34. FT predicts Eyes Test at 6-9 years old r = -0.43, p < 0.01 (Chapman et al)

  35. FT predicts CAST score: autistic traits at age 6-9 yrs old Linear regr B = 0.66, SE = 0.18, p < 0.0001 CAST score Auyeung et al (submitted)

  36. Other clues for the androgen (FT) theory of autism • Girls with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) have a higher AQ score (Knickmeyer et al, in press) • Early puberty in boys with autism (Tordjeman et al, 1997) • Delayed menarche and elevated rates of PCOS in women with AS (Ingudomnukul et al, submitted) • Low 2D:4D ratio in autism (Manning et al, 2001)

  37. The extreme male brain theory: the neurological level • Amygdala size: autism > typical boys > girls (Sparks et al 2002) • Long range connectivity: • Typical females > males > autism (Welchew et al, 2005) • Head size: Autism > typical males > females (Courchesne et al, 2004) BC et al (2005) Science

  38. Ultimate causes: Genetics • Twin studies • Sibling risk rates • The ‘broader phenotype’

  39. Clues for ‘assortative mating’ of parents • Both parents faster on the Embedded Figures Test • Both parents score slightly lower on the Eyes Test • Both parents have a higher AQ (Bishop et al, 2005) and SRS (Constantino et al 2004)

  40. Assortative mating: Grandfathers’ occupations Engineering Social Work (%) (%) Autism 21.2 0.5 Downs 10.0 2.5 Autism, 1997

  41. Assortative mating: The Eyes Test Eyes Task bilateral inferior frontal Brain and Cog, in press

  42. EFT Assortative mating: EFT left fusiform & visual cortex red: left blue: right visual cortex BC et al (in press) Brain and Cog

  43. Summary: Triad of strengths Islets of obsessions repetitive ability with systems behaviour Systemizing

  44. Summary: Triad of difficulties Social Communication Imagining others minds Empathizing

  45. For more information, visit www.autismresearchcentre.com Thanks to: The Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation Medical Research Council UK Target Autism Genome

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