The Neuroscientific Infrastructure of Second Autism Theories

1. A neuroscientific approach 2. Social understanding and the theory of mind 3. The neuronal basis of theory of mind and attribution 4. The ‘extreme male brain’ theory 5. The theory of levels of empathy 6. The neuroscientific basis of the empathy circuit 7. Gazzaniga’s theory of the interpreter 8. The relationship between weak central coherence and systemisation 9. Heightened perceptual processing 10. Relationship between mind reading and central coherence 11. The ‘mirror neuron dysfunction’ hypothesis and the ‘distorted relevance landscape’ hypothesis In this chapter, I will attempt to describe the neuroscientifically based theories on autism, for which the neurophysiological and structural foundations have been explored in Chapters 5 and 6 . After the cognitive revolution, in fact, the neuroscientific revolution is probably the area in which the integration of transversal specialisations has been most witnessed. Virtually, all disciplines participate in this area and all may have ‘something to say’. The term neuroscience historically refers to the set of disciplines that study the various morpho-functional aspects of the nervous system through the contribution of numerous branches of biomedical research, from neurophysiology to pharmacology, from biochemistry to molecular biology and from cell biology to neuroradiology techniques. Neuroscience has contributed, as far as the biomolecular aspect is concerned, to defining the functioning of the neuron, the role of neurotransmitters, neuromodulating molecules and those with trophic action. In parallel, the biomedical approach has made it possible to employ various investigative techniques to explore the anatomo-functional structure of the nervous system as an integrated unit, both under normal and pathological conditions. In this sense, progress has been made in neuroradiology and in those particularly refined techniques that are widely used in clinical diagnostics (computed tomography, magnetic and positron emission nuclear resonance). The approach was then extended to the description of molecules capable of controlling the genesis of certain brain proteins (genetic engineering). In particular, molecular biology has made it possible to study amino acid sequences of peptides that appear to play a physiological or pathological role, in relation to different conditions of isolation and characterisation. One of the main topics of discussion for philosophers and scientists in the twentieth century has been whether ‘mental’ activities such as thought, emotions, self-awareness and will are different functions from ‘brain’ activities such as the movement of a limb, the perception of colour, etc., or whether they too represent functional expressions of the neurons that make up the brain. The distinction between mental and cerebral activities, in the light of current knowledge, appears artificial to those practising one of the many disciplines that constitute neuroscience. According to this conception, the so-called mental activities must be considered as emergent properties, the result of such a complex sum of simpler neuronal activities that they constitute a quantitative leap that is essentially still undecipherable. These studies are also beginning to provide fundamentally important information on the nature of mental processes such as consciousness, will and memory, enormously complex issues that constitute the core of the third level of brain functions. It is not surprising, in this context, that more and more neuroscientists and cross-disciplinary research groups engaged in neuroscience have become interested in the great issues of the human mind, from consciousness to free will, from the redefinition of apex concepts such as life, death, intelligence, the unconscious, memory and not least autism, with the search for neuronal correlates and the neurophysiological basis of psychological theories.