Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T05:58:31.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Autism and the preference for imaginary worlds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Heather Browning Open the ORCID record for Heather Browning [Opens in a new window]  and
Walter Veit Open the ORCID record for Walter Veit [Opens in a new window]
Heather Browning
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, London School of Economics and Political Science, Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London WC2A 2AE, [email protected]; https://www.heatherbrowning.net/
Walter Veit
Affiliation:
The University of Sydney, School of History and Philosophy of Science, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia [email protected]; https://walterveit.com/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Dubourg and Baumard mention a potential role for the human drive to systemise as a factor motivating interest in imaginary worlds. Given that hyperexpression of this trait has been linked with autism (Baron-Cohen, 2002, 2006), we think this raises interesting implications for how those on the autism spectrum may differ from the neurotypical population in their engagement with imaginary worlds.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e279
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baron-Cohen, S. (2002). The extreme male brain theory of autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6(6), 248–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)01904-6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S. (2006). The hyper-systemizing, assortative mating theory of autism. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 30(5), 865–872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.01.010.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Browning, H., & Veit, W. (forthcoming). Why are we here? Evangelion and the desperate search for meaning in life. In: Cotton, C., & Winters, A. M. (Eds.), Neon genesis Evangelion and philosophy. Open Court.Google Scholar
Chapman, R., & Veit, W. (2020a). The essence of autism: Fact or artefact? Molecular Psychiatry, 26, 1440–1441. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-00959-1.Google Scholar
Chapman, R., & Veit, W. (2020b). Representing the autism spectrum. The American Journal of Bioethics, 20(4), 46–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2020.1730495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, M. M., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2018). A preliminary investigation of parent-reported fiction versus non-fiction book preferences of school-age children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 3, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941518806109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenberg, D. M., Warrier, V., Allison, C., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2018). Testing the empathizing–systemizing theory of sex differences and the extreme male brain theory of autism in half a million people. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(48), 12152–12157. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811032115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veit, W. (2019). Model pluralism. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 50(2), 91–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0048393119894897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar