1. Integration problems in high functioning autism
Dorit Ben Shalom, Zlotowski Centre for Neuroscience, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

2. An under researched problem
By informal estimate, only 10% of people with high functioning ASD have the severe form
Researchers have no idea what to look for

3. My main interest is in the severe form, because so much more is known about the less severe forms

4. The medial prefrontal cortex and integration in autism
Ben Shalom, 2009
Ben Shalom, D. (2009). "The Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Integration in Autism."
Neuroscientist:

5. Level 3 •
Logical processing
Conscious
Integration
Pre-conscious
Animal processing
Unconscious
Level 2
Level 1

6. Emotion the theory of mind hypothesis
(Baron-Cohen et al., 1985, Frith & Happe,
1994)
Baron-Cohen, S., A. M. Leslie, et al. (1985). "Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind" ?"
Cognition 21
(1):
Frith, U. (1994). "Autism and theory of mind in everyday life."
Social Development 3
(2):
Theory of mind what aspects

7. Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Autistic Neurotypical spectrum Conscious
logical
processing of
emotions
Pre-conscious
integration of
emotional
states
The animal
level of
emotion
Neurotypical
Autistic
spectrum
disorder

8. Emotion

9. Memory episodic (Bowler et al., 2000)
or ‘complex’ memory atypicalities
(Minshew and Williams, 2007)
Bowler, D. M., J. M. Gardiner, et al. (2000). "Episodic Memory and Remembering in Adults with Asperger
Syndrome."
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 30
(4):
Minshew, N. J. and D. L. Williams (2007). "The new neurobiology of autism: cortex, connectivity, and neuronal
organization."
Archives of neurology 64
(7):

11. Memory

12. Perception the weak coherence hypothesis (Frith,
1989, Happe & Frith, 2006) (emphasis on
atypical top down processing)
the enhanced perceptual functioning
hypothesis (Mottron et al., 2006)
(emphasis on enhanced bottom up
processing)

14. Perception

15. Motor dyspraxia (difficulty in planning complex
movements) is more general in ASD, going
beyond imitation (mostofsky et al., 2006)

16. Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Autistic Neurotypical spectrum Conscious
logical
processing of
emotions
Pre-conscious
integration of
motor actions
The animal
level of
motor
behavior
Neurotypical
Autistic
spectrum
disorder

17. Motor

18. perception
memory
emotion
motor

19. JS (Smith, 2006)
“I have a hard time localizing pain [. . .]. I have a very hard time explaining where aches are located when my doctors ask”

20. Unrelated JS (Ben Shalom, Faran, & Boucher, 2010)
who after 4 repetitions of 8 word pairs with phonological interference knew only 2

21. Donna Williams (Williams, 2003)
“When I was 7 I got a doll's house [. . .]. I picked it up [. . .] in my mouth [. . .]. I later moved onto the series of flattened white blocks [. . .] before stacking them in piles according to size. [. . .] I saw no doll's house”

22. Ido Kedar (Kedar, 2010)
“It was my good fortune that I was able to learn to communicate on letter board or computer with my one finger. Thanks to that, my education is possible”