r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Feb 08 '25

Neuroscience Specific neurons that secrete oxytocin in the brain are disrupted in a mouse model of autism, neuroscientists have found. Stimulating these neurons restored social behaviors in these mice. These findings could help to develop new ways to treat autism.

https://www.riken.jp/en/news_pubs/research_news/rr/20250207_1/index.html
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u/FloatingGhost Feb 09 '25

it's... unusual

the best way I can probably convey it is such:

if someone asks you "What's on your mind?", (I imagine) you'd be pretty able to answer - that's the precise thing that autism seems to inhibit. I've confused a great many people by responding "I'm not quite sure"

it's like... idk I know something is going on in my head but I'm not yet sure what it is, I'm still waiting for it to finish processing

like you're sat there staring at a computer mouse doing the hourglass thing. it's thinking, it'll finish soon probably

sorta

it's hard to explain

sometimes it's so bad that I need to rule things out, look up descriptions of emotional "symptoms" and go "hmmm I'm not angry... not worried... anxious? maybe"

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u/skippydi34 Feb 09 '25

That's why asking "How are you?" (Not the small talk how are you) isn't a good question, right? Autistic people told me that they don't know what to answer. Too unspecific, too much to process.

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u/FloatingGhost Feb 09 '25

yeah I'd agree with that assessment

it's like my brain is a mess of things happening that I can't observe unless I'm told what to look for - for example my manager at work can ask "how are you finding work?" and I can answer since I have something to narrow in on

but more general than that and I'll probably default to something noncommittal to stop the line of questioning before it gets weird

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u/KuriousKhemicals Feb 09 '25

Hahaha I suspect I might have mild ASD (getting eval soon) and I have just mentally restricted that question to certain topic areas that concern the interaction of myself and the person asking.

I think I still answer in more detail/ with sometimes more negatives than they wanted, but serves them right for asking questions that aren't actually meant to be answered.