The reason copying behaviors in autism is not being researched is there is not a strong enough connective path between the two. Your observation is anecdotal.
However, you are correct in that research is showing that there may be a strong connection to it being hereditary, but even that is not yet conclusive. There is still too many unknowns.
What sets most people on the spectrum apart is their orientation and filters to the world. Neurotypical people are more socially oriented, while ASD people are more logically orientated. However, logic and imagination are not exclusive of each other.
All people use imagination, its how we problem solve. For example, logical mathematicians and scientists use their imagination when building their theories using visuals in their brains. In reality, almost ALL people copy ideas and build upon them (which requires imagination). We are not taught until PHD level in our education to create original works. Until then, we use the ideas and thoughts of others and build upon them. We pass it off as normal to do so.
The idea that poets are not autistic is yet another misnomer. Please be careful with blanket stereotypes, especially false ones. It has no credibility and why I implore you to explore the subject prior to making innacurate judgments as fact.
There is a book called The Genesis of Artistic Creativity: Asperger’s Syndrome and the Arts, the below passage is often quoted:
"Persons with the syndrome are often workaholics, highly persistent, content with their own company and solitary artistic occupations; they focus on detail with massive curiosity and total immersion; they are novelty-seekers in terms of their art, with massive imagination in their specialised spheres. They are also far less influenced by previous or contemporary artists in their work than are ‘neurotypicals’. It appears that the autistic artist, because of his or her rather diffuse identity and diffuse psychological boundaries, has the capacity to do what the artist George Bruce described as being necessary for art: ‘One must not just depict the objects, one must penetrate them, and one must oneself become the object’.”
I am also willing to bet you know and encounter more autistic people then you think. One in 110 have the syndrome, most of which are male.
I started to list names of today's most prominent and brilliant Pulitzer prize winners, poets, songwriters, artists, producers who are indeed autistic, but as the list is so long, I encourage you to google it, if for nothing more than the shock value of how many there really are.
Finally, I will leave you with my own anecdotal contrary observation. My oldest child, my 11 year old son, has autism (the only other family member with autism is my husband's cousin.) My "unimaginative uncreative" autistic child recently competed in the district forensic and drama competition in the category of creative storytelling. What that means to you as a layman: people competing in this category are given three random aspects: a character, a situation, and a scene location. They then have 30 minutes to use their imagination and create an impromptu one man 10 minute play and then act it out themselves. It is impossible to "copy". He placed fourth in the entire district.... A co-worker's son just won an art scholarship, he too is autistic.
Topic: OMG Massive Realisation - Autism Traits & Copying. (Read 1087 times)
August 11, 2009, 05:03:12 PM