Superior perception, peaks of ability, and savant skills are often observed in the autistic phenotype. The enhanced perceptual functioning model (Mottron et al., 2006a) emphasizes the increased role ...and autonomy of perceptual information processing in autistic cognition. Autistic abilities also involve enhanced pattern detection, which may develop through veridical mapping across isomorphic perceptual and non-perceptual structures (Mottron et al., 2009). In this paper, we elaborate veridical mapping as a specific mechanism which can explain the higher incidence of savant abilities, as well as other related phenomena, in autism. We contend that savant abilities such as hyperlexia, but also absolute pitch and synaesthesia, involve similar neurocognitive components, share the same structure and developmental course, and represent related ways by which the perceptual brain deals with objective structures under different conditions. Plausibly, these apparently different phenomena develop through a veridical mapping mechanism whereby perceptual information is coupled with homological data drawn from within or across isomorphic structures. The atypical neural connectivity characteristic of autism is consistent with a developmental predisposition to veridical mapping and the resulting high prevalence of savant abilities, absolute pitch, and synaesthesia in autism.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
•Autistics with a Block Design peak were faster at a mental rotation task.•Distinct cognitive profiles in autism modulate brain activation and functional connectivity.•Greater parietal and occipital ...functioning is specific to autistics with visuospatial strengths.•Increased fronto-occipital connectivity characterized autistics with visuospatial peaks.
Enhanced visuospatial abilities characterize the cognitive profile of a subgroup of autistics. However, the neural correlates underlying such cognitive strengths are largely unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the neural underpinnings of superior visuospatial functioning in different autistic subgroups. Twenty-seven autistic adults, including 13 with a Wechsler’s Block Design peak (AUTp) and 14 without (AUTnp), and 23 typically developed adults (TYP) performed a classic mental rotation task. As expected, AUTp participants were faster at the task compared to TYP. At the neural level, AUTp participants showed enhanced bilateral parietal and occipital activation, stronger occipito-parietal and fronto-occipital connectivity, and diminished fronto-parietal connectivity compared to TYP. On the other hand, AUTnp participants presented greater activation in right and anterior regions compared to AUTp. In addition, reduced connectivity between occipital and parietal regions was observed in AUTnp compared to AUTp and TYP participants. A greater reliance on posterior regions is typically reported in the autism literature. Our results suggest that this commonly reported finding may be specific to a subgroup of autistic individuals with enhanced visuospatial functioning. Moreover, this study demonstrated that increased occipito-frontal synchronization was associated with superior visuospatial abilities in autism. This finding contradicts the long-range under-connectivity hypothesis in autism. Finally, given the relationship between distinct cognitive profiles in autism and our observed differences in brain functioning, future studies should provide an adequate characterization of the autistic subgroups in their research. The main limitations are small sample sizes and the inclusion of male-only participants.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
À partir de portraits de femmes musulmanes issus d’études ethnographiques sur les modes de religiosités féminines dans la wilaya de Blida (Algérie), cet article met en perspective les questions de ...genre, de pratiques islamiques et de conservatisme social dans cette région particulière. Il montre comment ces femmes de diverses appartenances socioéconomiques s’adaptent à cet environnement conservateur, jusqu’à parfois le reproduire, leur religiosité leur permettant de s’y conformer ou, au contraire, de le détourner afin de gagner une part de liberté quant à leurs choix de vie.
Souleymane Bachir Diagne, philosophe sénégalais enseignant à l’Université de Columbia à New York, revient dans cet entretien sur son parcours intellectuel de penseur de l’islam, inspiré par un ...enseignement religieux familial soufi et ouvert à la réflexion. Il explique ses divers engagements en tant qu’enseignant voulant transmettre l’importance du dialogue entre les diverses philosophies du monde, le pluralisme et la tolérance face aux idéologies de l’exclusion. Il livre également quelques réflexions personnelles sur les dynamiques contemporaines de l’islam, issues des mouvements afro-américains, d’intellectuels ouest-africains, ou encore de mouvements féministes diversifiés.
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