Scientists believe assigning point-of-view to lifeless objects morally superior

[zurb]

Hmmm, just thinking...
In ToM tests, they conclude that aspies project their thoughts onto other people – I know it, therefore you know it.
I wonder if its the same with NTs with emotion – I feel it, therefore you feel it. Maybe that is what they call empathy?

 

[ancusmitis]

Hmmm, just thinking...
In ToM tests, they conclude that aspies project their thoughts onto other people – I know it, therefore you know it.
I wonder if its the same with NTs with emotion – I feel it, therefore you feel it. Maybe that is what they call empathy?

That is actually how TOM has always been described to me--the sense that others' minds are the same as your own. It's only when it's done in an autistic way that it's defined as a pathology. Maybe there are other definitions out there.

 

[Bellatrix]

The scientists didn't say, "Great, now we can work out how to train (NT) children to understand that computer graphics don't actuaaly have an experience of itself, other graphics, or anything at all." That's where it says that.

Yes, the (unstated) assumption by those who conducted the research was that the way that the NT children relate to the inanimate objects was the way that ALL children should. That was the message that I myself got from reading the article, because at no point does anyone concerned try to correct the mistaken view the NT children have that the way they see things is actually wrong (and it is).

“Reduced brain activity in ToM-related brain regions and reduced connectivity among these regions in children with autism suggest how deficits in the neurobiological mechanisms can lead to difficulties in cognitive and behavioral functioning, such as theory of mind,” said Marcel Just, the D.O. Hebb University Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. - from article, emphasis added

'Deficits'! Ugh! Sure, there's no bias there. The fact that those with A.S./autism compensate (because they have little choice in the matter if they want to get along with most people) for their 'deficits' isn't even hinted at in the article.

“Weaker coordination and communication among core brain areas during social thinking tasks in autism provides evidence for how different brain areas in autism struggle to work together as a team.” - from article

Gee, even the areas of our brains don't like teamwork! Talk about being anti-social (and therefore defective)!

"The team demonstrated that “seeing” the interactions was in the mind of the beholder, or to be more specific, in the ToM circuitry of the viewer’s brain. Without ToM, it just looked like geometric shapes moving around the screen.' - from article

Well, that is all they were! Geometric shapes.

I'm sorry, but nonsense like this really gets to me.

 

[Ste11aeres]

But they wouldn't, autistic kids lack pretend play. I didn't have my toys act like people, I just lined them up and sorted them into groups. I imagine it's the same that goes into making little triangles into people.

I think you misunderstood my point. My point wasn't that autistic kids would have had the different results, it's that I feel the "findings" of this study are really interpretations based on the researcher's prior views.

 

[Progster]

Can we read each other, though? I know NTs cannot read us, but if it is an intraneurology thing, that would be useful information.

That's an interesting question. I don't have much experience with people on the spectrum in real life, and I can't really answer this... but one lady who claimed to be on the spectrum and who had an autistic daughter I met seemed to know what I might be feeling. Many NT people find it strange that I can't just go up to a person and start talking to them, or that I don't know what to say, that talking to people makes me anxious and tired, or that I don't like talking on the phone, but another person on the spectrum might understand these things and feel the same way. NTs often think that I overreact to things, people on the spectrum are perhaps more likely to understand and pick up on my emotions... but I don't really know, I haven't had a lot of contact with people on the spectrum in real life.