Increased perceptual capacity : The Autism Gift ?
September 11th, 2017
McGill University
Anna Remmington, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer, UCL Institute of Education, University College London
The deficits associated with autism are well documented, yet in recent years there has also been a body of research that has investigated strengths in the condition. In particular there are a large number of reports of superior performance on a variety of visual and auditory processing tasks. In this talk I will look at the idea of Autism as a ‘difference’ rather than a ‘disability’, and will present evidence from my own research that demonstrates that autistic individuals are able to process more information at any given time than neurotypical controls. This ‘Increased Perceptual Capacity’ may explain many of the behaviours – both positive and negative – that are seen within the condition.