1、My Mind is a Web Browser: How People with Autism Thinkby Temple Grandin Cerebrum, 2000Winter Vol. 2, Number 1, pp. 14-22The Charles A. Dana Foundation, New York, NY -The struggle that made possible Temple Grandins early development, graduate education, and notable career as a professor of animal beh
2、avior, designer of animal facilities worldwide, and celebrated writer, speaker, and researcher on autism, is told in her books, Emergence: Labeled Autistic (1986) and Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports From My Life With Autism* (Vintage Books) 1996. *Voted a Cerebrum “Great Brain Book,“ Spring 1
3、999. Since writing Thinking in Pictures, which described my visual way of thinking, I have gained further insights into how my thought processes are different when compared to those of people who think in language. At autism meetings, I am often asked, “How can you be effective at public speaking wh
4、en you think in pictures that are like video tapes in your imagination?“ It is almost as though I have two levels of consciousness that operate separately. Only by interviewing people did I learn that many of them think primarily in words, and that their thoughts are linked to emotion. In my brain,
5、words act as a narrator for the visual images in my imagination. I can see the pictures in my memory files. To use a computer analogy: The language part of my brain is the computer operator, and the rest of my brain is the computer. In most people, the brains computer operator and the computer are m
6、erged into one seamless consciousness; but in me they are separate. I hypothesize that the frontal cortex of my brain is the operator and the rest of my brain is the computer. When I lecture, the language itself is mostly “downloaded“ out of memory from files that are like tape recordings. I use sli
7、des or notes to trigger opening the different files. When I am talking about something for the first time, I look at the visual images on the “computer monitor“ in my imagination, then the language part of me describes those images. After I have given the lecture several times, the new material in l
8、anguage is switched over into “audio tape-recording files.“ When I was in high school, other kids called me “tape recorder.“ A Web browser finds specific words; by analogy, my mind looks for picture memories that are associated with a word. It can also go off on a tangent in the same way as a Web br
9、owser. Non-autistic people seem to have a whole upper layer of verbal thinking that is merged with their emotions. By contrast, unless I panic, I use logic to make all decisions; my thinking can be done independently of emotion. In fact, I seem to lack a higher consciousness composed of abstract ver
10、bal thoughts that are merged with emotion. Researchers have learned that people with autism have a decreased metabolism in the area in the frontal cortex that connects the brains emotional centers with higher thinking (the anterior cingulate).1 The frontal cortex is the brains senior executive like
11、the CEO of a corporation. Brain scans indicate that people with autism use problem-solving circuits in social situations. Unlike non-autistic people, the emotion center in their amygdala is not activated, for example, when they judge expressions in another persons eyes.2 My mind is a Web browserNow
12、let me explain how the language part of my brain and the “thinking in pictures“ part of my brain seem to interact. My mind works just like an Internet Web browser. A Web browser finds specific words; by analogy, my mind looks for picture memories that are associated with a word. It can also go off o
13、n a tangent in the same way as a Web browser, because visual thinking is non-linear, associative thinking. To demonstrate how my mind works, at an autism meeting I asked a member of the audience to name a thing for me to invent. I wanted to show how the visual part of my brain and the language part
14、worked separately. Somebody said, “invent a better paper clip.“ The language part of my brain said, “I can do that,“ and pictures immediately started flashing into my imagination of all kinds of paper clips I have seen. My “Web browser“ searched the picture memory files; many paper clip pictures fla
15、shed through my imagination like slides. I could stop on any one picture and study it. I saw an odd, plastic paper clip that was on a scientific paper from Europe. At this point, I got off the subject and saw pictures of the first scientific meeting I had attended in Spain. The language voice inside
16、 me said, “Get back on the subject of paper clips.“ The language part of me is a manager who uses simple non-descriptive language to tell the rest of my brain what to do. Often, the best ideas for inventing things come just as I am drifting off to sleep. The pictures are clearer then. It is as thoug
17、h I can access the most concrete, vivid memory files with the most detailed images. The language part of my brain is completely shut off at night. To get ideas for new paper clip designs, I can pull up pictures of clothes pins and other clip-like things, such as mouse traps and C clamps used in wood
18、working. I start thinking that inventing a better clip for holding a thick pile of papers together might be more marketable than a new paper clip design. Existing spring binder clips tend to rip envelopes when papers are mailed, because the clips have protruding edges. When I think about this, I see
19、 ripped envelopes. The language part of my mind says, “Design a flat binder clip for thick documents.“ When I say this, I see a mailed document in an undamaged envelope. My visual imagination then sees a large plastic clip that I saw in Japan. Japanese apartment dwellers who do not have clothes drye
20、rs use large, plastic clips to hold blankets and other laundry on balcony railings. A small version of the Japanese balcony clip may make a better paper clip for holding many pages. When I was responding to the paper clip inquiry, I knew that I could visually associate all day about paper clips. The
21、 language part of my mind then said, “That is enough,“ and I resumed my lecture. But as I corrected the first draft of this article, I saw a one-piece molded plastic binder clip that would lay flat on a thick bunch of papers. I do have the ability to control the rate at which pictures come onto the
22、“computer screen“ in my imagination. Some people with autism are not able to do this. One person with autism told me that images explode into a web of a pictures that are interrelated. The decision-making process can become “locked up“ and over-loaded with pictures coming in all at once. Unmasking T
23、alentI have been fascinated with research indicating that the detailed, realistic pictures that autistic savants - autistic individuals with extraordinary talent in a specific area - make may be created by directly accessing primary memory areas deep in the brain. Researchers in Australia hypothesiz
24、e that autistic savants may have privileged access to lower levels of information.3 A study with a non-autistic “human calculator,“ who could solve multiplication problems twice as quickly as a normal person, indicated that his brain had enhanced low-level processing.4 EEG recordings of his brain wa
25、ves showed that brain activity was greatest, as compared with a normal person, when the multiplication problem was first flashed on the screen. I hypothesize that I am able to access primary visual files in my brain. When designing livestock equipment in my business, I can do three-dimensional, full
26、 motion videos of equipment and can test-run the equipment in my imagination. I can walk around it or fly over it. My ability to rotate the image is slow. I move my minds eye around or over the image. When I read an article in Neurology about frontal temporal lobe dementia, I became extremely excite
27、d. It provided a scientific foundation for the idea of hidden visual thinking under a layer of verbal thinking. Research on frontal temporal lobe dementia, an Alzheimers-like condition that destroys language and social areas in the brain, demonstrated that, as the condition progressed, visual skills
28、 in art emerged in people who had no interest in art. The increase in creativity was always visual, never verbal. Brain scans found the highest activity in the visual cortex. As the patients cognitive abilities deteriorated, the art became more photo realistic. Artwork published with the journal art
29、icle looks like the art of autistic savants. I see the decision processI see the decision-making process in my mind in a way most people do not. When I tried to explain this to a person who thinks in language, he just didnt get it. How my decision-making works is most clearly seen in an emergency. O
30、n a bright, sunny day, I was driving to the airport when an elk ran into the highway just ahead of my car. I had only three or four seconds to react. During those few seconds, I saw images of my choices. The first image was of a car rear ending me. This is what would have happened if I had made the
31、instinctive panic response and slammed on the brakes. The second image was of an elk smashing through my windshield. This is what would have happened if I had swerved. The last image showed the elk passing by in front of my car. The last choice was the one I could make if I inhibited the panic respo
32、nse and braked just a little to slow the car. I mentally “clicked“ on slowing down and avoided an accident. It was like clicking a computer mouse on the desired picture. Animal decision makingI speculate that the decision-making process I used to avoid the accident may be similar to the process anim
33、als use. From my work with animals, Ive come to believe that consciousness originally arose from the orienting response. When a deer sees a person, it will often freeze and look at him. This is the deers orienting response. During this time, it decides either to run away or to keep grazing. It does
34、not act as a programmed robot, governed by instinct or reflexes; it has the flexibility to make a decision. One of the things that has helped me to understand animals is that, more than most people, I think and feel like one. The more “animal“ parts of the normal human brain may be covered by layers
35、 of language-based thinking. Thinking in audio tapesIn connection with my lectures, I have talked with autistic people who are not visual thinkers. They seem to think in audio tape clips. Audio tape thinking does not have to involve language; instead of using visual images to form memories, these pe
36、ople store very specific audio clips. I suspect that, for them, hearing is easier than seeing. Dr. John Stein and his colleagues at Oxford University have discovered that some people have difficulty seeing rapidly changing visual scenes. They find reading is difficult because the print appears jumbl
37、ed.6 This results from defects in brain circuits that process motion.7 The eye is fine; the circuits between brain and eyes malfunction. One person I know who is expert at training animals told me that she hears the animals behavior instead of seeing it. She has audio tapes in her memory with little
38、 sound details. For example, she knows that the animal is relaxed or agitated by listening to its breathing or footsteps. She reads audio signals instead of body posture. Piecing the details togetherPeople with autism, and animals as well, pay more attention to details. As I described in Thinking in
39、 Pictures, all my thinking goes from the specific to the general. I look at lots of little details and piece them together to make a concept. The first step in forming an idea is to make categories. For example, the most primary level is sorting objects by color or shape. The next step is sorting th
40、ings by less obvious features, as when we categorize cats and dogs. When I was five years old, I figured out that a miniature dachshund was not a cat because it had a dogs nose; all dogs had certain features that were visually recognizable. My mind seeks these categories amidst an array of little de
41、tails. In problem solving, my thinking process is like that of an epidemiologist tracking down a disease. The epidemiologist collects lots of little pieces of information and finally figures out the common factor that caused certain people to fall ill. For example, they may all have eaten strawberri
42、es from a certain place. Also, I understand concepts visually. For example, all objects classified as keys will open locks. I realize that the word “key“ can also be used metaphorically, when we say, “the key to success is positive thinking.“ When I think about that phrase, I see Norman Vincent Peal
43、es book, The Power of Positive Thinking, and I see myself back at my aunts ranch reading it. I then see a stage where a person is getting an award and I see a large cardboard key. Even in this situation, the key still unlocks the door to success. The ability to form categories is the beginning of th
44、e ability to form concepts. Keys in their physical form open physical locks but abstract keys can open many things, such as a scientific discovery or career success. In teaching people to understand animal behavior, I have to help them to learn how to observe details that seem insignificant. Animals
45、 notice details in their environment that most people do not see, such as a branch that moves slightly or a shadow. In my work with livestock facilities, I try to get the language-based thinkers of the crowd to be more observant of little details that spook cattle. A cow may balk at entering a vacci
46、nation chute because it sees a piece of jiggling chain that most people ignore, but which is significant in the cows environment. That little chain attracts the cows attention because it moves quickly. Rapid movement activates the amygdala, the brains emotion center. In a prey species such as cattle
47、, rapid movement elevates fear because, in the wild, things that move rapidly are often dangerous. Something moving quickly in the bushes may be a lion. On the other hand, a predatory animal such as a dog, is attracted to rapid movement. This may explain why some dogs attack joggers. Rapid movement
48、triggers chasing and attacking in a predatory animal, but it triggers flight in a prey species such as deer or cattle. Objects that move rapidly also attract the attention of people with autism. When I was younger, I liked to play with automatic doors at supermarkets. I enjoyed watching the rapid op
49、ening movement. Elevator doors were not interesting; they did not move fast enough to be pleasurable to watch. Tests of my visual tracking indicate that I have a slight abnormality in my eyes ability to track a moving object. Children and adults with autism who never learn to speak have graver defects in their nervous system. The automatic doors that I liked to watch cause many nonverbal autistics to put their hands over their eyes. The rapid movement of the doors hurts their eyes. Possibly, a s
