Autistic folks DO.

...or do not, to an extreme. If no “cultured response” is wedged in to mediate the process of responding to sensory input, then get spontaneity as with a cat, where the response seems wired in reflexively and doesn’t seem to break the concentration/attention. On the other hand, every input can be routed through a contemplative morass, almost a bureaucracy (Which department handles this? Who has the authority? Who wants to take the responsibility?), where no response is unmediated. Seems like an either/or, where modes can shift rapidly, to the bewilderment of observers.

There may be a layer of behavioral filtering between the impulse-to-act and the action, but this layer must be seen as conditioned, situational, and vulnerable to factors such as stress and fatigue. Further, another’s attempt to give a comforting touch may become part of “the physical environment” and thus met with avoidance or distress instead of being received in a manner deemed more socially appropriate.

One role this layer may serve is that of “dead skin” to keep the rawness of direct sensory experience from being overwhelming. If it is absent, then the “raw skin” sensations are experienced - not just for touch, but for the other senses as well. To combat this, perhaps conscious ignoring techniques are developed - which may be misinterpreted as insensitivity, a kind of deadness, when the actual condition is a kind of hyperaliveness.

Last revised: June 17, 2007
(c)2007 Dave Spicer
(back to project main page)