As we have discussed the many mysteries of autism throughout this column, we have looked at many different observations of individuals with autism from the perspective of the individual themself or those around them. However, we have not yet delved into what physically happens inside someone with autism. Are their brains different from those without autism? Is there a difference in chemical reactions or the structural materials that make up the brains of these individuals? Today, we unmask the mysteries of the brain of an individual with autism.
In this article, there will be many references to specific parts and phenomena of the brain — an excellent opportunity to use the great resources we explored in the last edition of this column!
For the most part, the makeup of the brain of an individual with autism is the same as that of someone without. The neurons fire in the same way, the chemical reactions that let our brains work are the same, and the size, shape, and look are the same (at least, as far as we know — the brain is super unknown in the scientific community).
So, the question remains: what is the difference between individuals with and without autism? The answer comes from the study of the brain and behaviors. This area, known as neurophysiology, studies what the brain does and how it impacts decisions, personalities, and behaviors. In the brain of an individual without autism, the cingulate gyrus—located in the front of your head by the hairline and helps control emotions and some motor skills—works quite efficiently. It can send signals to the rest of the brain based on emotions and switch the brain from the logical thinking side to the empathetic “feeling” side. However, for individuals with autism, the cingulate gyrus cannot alternate signals from different parts of the brain.
For most daily activities, the less-than-perfect performance of the cingulate gyrus in individuals with autism does just what it needs to. However, in social or emotional situations, the cingulate gyrus limits the individual’s ability to convey what the senses report to the brain from the logical to the empathetic side. Essentially, the brain is “stuck” thinking only logically without access to the full extent of their emotional and social knowledge, experiences, and instincts. Some traits of autism that exhibit this are autistic individuals’ difficulty understanding social cues, being receptive to other people’s emotions, or navigating the web of social interactions in everyday life.
The cingulate gyrus also could help explain hyperfocus, hyperactivity, and other traits of autism. Because of the cingulate gyrus’s vital role in helping the brain switch between thoughts by redirecting signals to different parts of the brain, hyper fixation may be autistic individuals’ brains being unable to shift focus to something else.
However, while the cingulate gyrus may limit social understanding and increase hyperfocus, it can also do the opposite: force autistic individuals to feel overwhelming amounts of emotion or make it difficult to focus on anything. Or, like autism itself is, the cingulate gyrus may impact the brain in a spectrum of ways, limiting social interactions and focus or increasing both to the point that an individual with autism can only focus on one emotion for a portion of the day.
Autism is a complicated phenomenon, with varying aspects of life being impacted by a small part of the brain potentially controlling their entire life. Perhaps a different part of the brain can help explain why autism presents itself in the ways it does. For next time, we explore even more of how autism impacts the brain as we delve further into unmasking the mystery of what autism truly is.
