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Autism may have had advantages in humans' hunter-gatherer past, researcher believes

Date:
June 3, 2011
Source:
University of Southern California
Summary:
Though people with autism face many challenges because of their condition, they may have been capable hunter-gatherers in prehistoric times, according to a new paper.
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Though people with autism face many challenges because of their condition, they may have been capable hunter-gatherers in prehistoric times, according to a paper published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology in May.

The autism spectrum may represent not disease, but an ancient way of life for a minority of ancestral humans, said Jared Reser, a brain science researcher and doctoral candidate in the USC Psychology Department.

Some of the genes that contribute to autism may have been selected and maintained because they created beneficial behaviors in a solitary environment, amounting to an autism advantage, Reser said.

The "autism advantage," a relatively new perspective, contends that sometimes autism has compensating benefits, including increased abilities for spatial intelligence, concentration and memory. Although individuals with autism have trouble with social cognition, their other cognitive abilities are sometimes largely intact.

The paper looks at how autism's strengths may have played a role in evolution. Individuals on the autism spectrum would have had the mental tools to be self-sufficient foragers in environments marked by diminished social contact, Reser said.

The penchant for obsessive, repetitive activities would have been focused by hunger and thirst towards the learning and refinement of hunting and gathering skills.

Today autistic children are fed by their parents so hunger does not guide their interests and activities. Because they can obtain food free of effort, their interests are redirected toward nonsocial activities, such as stacking blocks, flipping light switches or collecting bottle tops, Reser said.


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Materials provided by University of Southern California. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Jared Edward Reser. Conceptualizing the autism spectrum in terms of natural selection and behavioral ecology: The solitary forager hypothesis. Evolutionary Psychology, 2011; 9 (2): 207-238 [abstract]

Cite This Page:

University of Southern California. "Autism may have had advantages in humans' hunter-gatherer past, researcher believes." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 June 2011. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110603122849.htm>.
University of Southern California. (2011, June 3). Autism may have had advantages in humans' hunter-gatherer past, researcher believes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110603122849.htm
University of Southern California. "Autism may have had advantages in humans' hunter-gatherer past, researcher believes." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110603122849.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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