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Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity Sigmund Freud |
Simon Baron-Cohen FBA (born 15 August 1958) is professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is the Director of the University's Autism Research Centre, and a Fellow of Trinity College. He is best known for his work on autism, including his early theory that autism involves degrees of "mind-blindness" (or delays in the development of theory of mind); and his later theory that autism is an extreme form of the "male brain", which involved a re-conceptualisation of typical psychological sex differences in terms of empathizing–systemizing theory.
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Baron-Cohen completed an MA in Human Sciences at New College, Oxford, and an MPhil in Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He did his PhD in Psychology at University College London under the supervision of Uta Frith.
Baron-Cohen was a co-author of the first study to show that children with autism have delays in the development of a theory of mind (ToM) (Cognition, 1985).
Baron-Cohen’s research over the subsequent 10 years provided much of the evidence for the ToM deficit, culminating in two edited anthologies (Understanding Other Minds, 1993, and 2000). His research group have linked the origins of the ToM deficit to joint attention (Brit J. Dev Psychol, 1987) and showed that absence of joint attention at 18 months is a predictor of later autism (British Journal of Psychiatry, 1992, 1996). Based on these and other findings, he proposed a model of the development of ‘mindreading’ in his widely cited monograph (Mindblindness, 1995 MIT Press). Baron-Cohen has also conducted brain imaging work examining the autistic brain. These studies highlighted differences between the typical and autistic brain in the orbito-frontal cortex (Brit. J. Psychiatry, 1994) PMID: 7866679 and the amygdala (Euro. J. Neuroscience, 1999), the latter leading him to propose the amygdala theory of autism (Neurosci. Behav. Rev. 2000). In 2010, with his former doctoral student Michael Lombardo, they showed that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex does not differentiate self from other in autism and accounts for variation in social deficits. In 2011, with Lombardo, they also showed that the right temporoparietal junction was hypoactive in autism during ToM tasks and also accounted for variation in social deficits.
In the late 1990s Baron-Cohen developed the hypothesis that typical sex differences may provide a neurobiological and psychological understanding of autism (the empathizing–systemizing theory). The theory proposes that autism is an extreme of the male brain (J. Cog. Neurosci, 1997; TICS, 2002). This led to him situating ToM within the broader domain of empathy, and to the development of a new construct (systemizing). The extreme male brain (EMB) theory of autism sees autism as being on a continuum with individual differences in the general population (sex differences). Baron-Cohen proposes that the cause of autism at a biological level may be hyper-masculinization. This hypothesis posits that certain features of autism (‘obsessions’ and repetitive behaviour, previously regarded as ‘purposeless’) as being highly purposive, intelligent (hyper-systemizing), and a sign of a different way of thinking. He wrote a popular book on the topic of sex differences and its relationship to autism (The Essential Difference, 2003).
Baron-Cohen launched the Cambridge Longitudinal Foetal Testosterone (FT) Project in the late 1990s, a research program following children of mothers who had amniocentesis. This aimed to study the effects of individual differences in FT on later child development. This is summarised in a technical monograph (Prenatal Testosterone in Mind, 2004 MIT Press). This study revealed that FT is negatively correlated with social and language development, and is positively correlated with attention to detail and a number of autistic traits (Brit. J. Psychology, 2009). His work studying FT led him to test the hyper-masculinization of autism at the psychometric level and in regard to developmental neurobiology (Science, 2005; PLOS Biology, 2011). The role of foetal testosterone in autism remains to be assessed in clinical cases, but gains some support from the recent discovery from Baron-Cohen's lab of androgen-related genes being associated with autistic traits, empathy, and Asperger Syndrome (Autism Research, 2009), and from the finding that a precursor to testosterone (androstenedione) is elevated in autism (Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2011). He is currently collaborating with the Danish Biobank to test if FT is elevated in people who go on to develop autism.
Baron-Cohen has developed software for special education (Mindreading) and an animation series to teach children with autism to recognise and understand emotions (The Transporters) both of which were BAFTA nominated and have been scientifically evaluated to show that they have benefit to emotional and social learning in autism. Baron-Cohen's work was applied to intervention in the book "Teaching Children With Autism To Mindread" (Wiley, 1997).
Baron-Cohen has worked in another research area: synaesthesia, a neurological condition in which a sensation in one modality (e.g., hearing) triggers a perception in another modality (e.g., colour). He and his colleagues were the first to develop the Test of Genuineness (Perception, 1987) and suggest that synaesthesia is the result of a breakdown in modularity (Perception, 1993). They were also the first to confirm the existence of synaesthesia using neuroimaging (Brain, 1995 and Nature Neuroscience, 1999) and to demonstrate that it is a heritable condition, conducting the first genetic study of synaesthesia (Perception, 1996; American Journal of Human Genetics, 2009).
Baron-Cohen is co-editor in chief of the journal Molecular Autism. and is Chair of the NICE Guideline Development Group for adults with autism.
Baron-Cohen appeared on Private Passions, on 13 April 2008, the biographical music discussion programme hosted by Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3.
He was featured on the BBC news page calling for an ethical debate on the issue of a prenatal test for autism, arguing it is important to debate this in advance of such a test existing, given the pace of biomedical research in autism. In an article in 2000 (Development and Psychopathology) Baron-Cohen argued that high-functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome need not just lead to disability, but can also lead to talent. He has found over 25 years that the media largely report his work accurately but in March 2009, he wrote a piece in New Scientist on the misrepresentation over his group's research into foetal testosterone in typically developing children.
He has appeared in many television science documentaries, one example being Brainman in which he diagnosed Daniel Tammet (who has extreme memory) with both synaesthesia and Asperger Syndrome.
In 2008 Baron-Cohen assessed Gary McKinnon, the British computer hacker who had been accused of breaking into 97 United States military and NASA computer networks in 2001 and 2002, and diagnosed him as having Asperger Syndrome. McKinnon's lawyers used this diagnosis in their appeal against his extradition to the U.S., but the British High Court nonetheless ruled that McKinnon should be extradited to the U.S. to face trial.
He recently appeared in TIME magazine (August 29th 2011), featuring his 'assortative mating' theory of autism.
Baron-Cohen was awarded the Spearman Medal from the British Psychological Society (BPS), the McAndless Award from the American Psychological Association, the May Davison Award for Clinical Psychology from the BPS, and the Presidents Award from the BPS. He was President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Section for Psychology in 2007, and was Vice President of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) for 2009-11. He is also a Vice President of the National Autistic Society (UK). He is a Fellow of the BPS, the BA, and the Association of Psychological Science.
Baron-Cohen is the son of Judith and Vivian Baron-Cohen. He is married to Bridget Lindley and together they have three children, including independent film maker Sam Baron and songwriter Kate Baron. His brothers are film director Ash Baron Cohen and Dan Baron Cohen (International Drama and Education Association). His sisters include acupuncturist Aliza Baron Cohen. His cousins include computer scientist Amnon Baron Cohen, composer and musician Erran Baron Cohen, comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen, composer Lewis Furey, film producer Daniel Louis, playwright Richard Greenblatt, University of Washington chemistry professor Seymour Rabinovitch, University of Montana Japanese professor Judith Rabinovitch, and film-director Mark Robson.
Baron-Cohen's single authored books:
His multi-authored and edited books include:
Baron-Cohen has authored over 250 peer-reviewed papers, including:
Simon Baron-Cohen
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