Autism – the first fifty years.
 
The history of experimental research into autism goes back hardly more than 50 years. Since that time researchers have applied paradigms developed in experimental psychology and neuropsychology, and later cognitive neuroscience. Although many questions about the nature and the causes of autism remain unresolved, some progress has been made in explaining two of the most puzzling features of autism: the missing reciprocity in social interactions and the presence of exceptional talent. One idea,  ‘mindblindness’, can explain the difficulties in reciprocal social interaction. Another idea, ‘detail-focus’, begins to explain features of autism that are manifest in an uneven profile of abilities. I will suggest that a constellation of three factors in the cognitive strengths and weaknesses in autism is conducive to the development of talents. First, lack of spontaneous mentalising frees the individual from conventions. Second, a detail focussed attention strategy is conducive to novel segmentation of perceptual input. Third, novelty aversion and perseveration make light weight of the proverbial 10,000 hours of practice.