Autism and Coherence: A Computational Model

Authors: O'Laughlin, Claire¹; Thagard, Paul²

Source: Mind & Language, Volume 15, Number 4, September 2000 , pp. 375-392(18)

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Abstract:

Recent theorizing about the nature of the cognitive impairment in autism suggests that autistic individuals display abnormally weak central coherence, the capacity to integrate information in order to make sense of one's environment. Our article shows the relevance of computational models of coherence to the understanding of weak central coherence. Using a theory of coherence as constraint satisfaction, we show how weak coherence can be simulated ina a connectionist network that has unusually high inhibition compared to excitation. This connectionist model simulates autistic behaviour on both the false belief task and the homograph task.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0017.00140

Affiliations: 1: Claude McCarthy Fellowship, 2: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Cananda

Publication date: 2000-09-01