Simon Baron-CohenFBA[2] (born 15 August 1958) is a Britishclinical psychologist, professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.[3] He is the Director of the University's Autism Research Centre,[4] and a Fellow of Trinity College.[3] In 1985 he formulated the mindblindness theory of autism, the evidence for which was collated in his 1995 book. In 1997, he formulated the fetal sex steroid theory of autism, the key test of which was published in 2015. He has also made major contributions to the fields of typical cognitive sex differences, autism prevalence and screening, autism genetics, autism neuroimaging, autism and technical ability, and synaesthesia.
He married Bridget Lindley, a family rights lawyer, in 1987. She died in 2016.[6][7]
Baron-Cohen has three children, the eldest of whom is screenwriter and director Sam Baron.[8] He has an older brother Dan Baron Cohen and three younger siblings, brother Ash Baron-Cohen and sisters Suzie and Liz.[9] Their cousin is the actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.[10][11] Baron-Cohen's surname includes a hyphen—which is not the case with other members of his family—because of a typographical error in his first professional article; he never had the error corrected.[12]
Autism research
While he was a member of the Cognitive Development Unit (CDU) in London, in 1985 Baron-Cohen was lead author of the first study, published with Alan M. Leslie and Uta Frith, which proposed a correlation between children with autism and delays in the development of a theory of mind, known as ToM.[13][14] A theory of mind is the ability to imagine other people's emotions and thoughts, and it is a skill that according to Baron-Cohen's research is typically delayed developmentally in children with autism.[14]
Baron-Cohen in 2011
Baron-Cohen and his colleagues discovered in 1987 the first evidence that experiences in synaesthesia remain consistent over time; they also found synaesthesia to be measurable via neuroimaging techniques.[15] His team has investigated whether synaesthesia is connected to autism.[16]
In 1997 Baron-Cohen developed the empathising–systemising theory. His theory is that a cognitive profile with a systemising drive that is stronger than empathising is associated with maths, science and technology skills, and exists in families with autism spectrum disorders. He suspects that if individuals with a "systemising" focus are selecting each other as mates, they are more likely to have children with autism.[8][17] He postulates that more individuals with autistic traits are marrying each other and having children.[8] He said that "In essence, some geeks may be carriers of genes for autism: in their own life, they do not demonstrate any signs of severe autism, but when they pair up and have kids, their children may get a double dose of autism genes and traits. In this way, assortative mating between technical-minded people might spread autism genes."[17]
According to Time magazine, his views on systemising traits had "earned him the ire of some parents of autistic children, who complain that he underestimates their families' suffering".[8]Time said that while research from Washington University in St. Louis did not support the assortive mating theory, a survey finding that autism was twice as high in Eindhoven (the Silicon Valley of the Netherlands) had "breathed new life" into Baron-Cohen's theory.[8] The theory has received further support in 2016.[18]
Baron-Cohen's work in systemising-empathising led him to investigate whether higher levels of fetal testosterone explain the increased prevalence of autism spectrum disorders among males;[17] his theory is known as the "extreme male brain" theory of autism.[11] A review of his book The Essential Difference published in Nature in 2003 summarises his proposal as: "the male brain is programmed to systemize and the female brain to empathize ... Asperger's syndrome represents the extreme male brain".[19] Critics say that because his work has focused on higher-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders, it requires independent replication with broader samples.[20] His prediction that prenatal testosterone would be elevated in autism has been confirmed.[21]
In 2001 he developed the Autism Spectrum Quotient, a set of fifty questions that can be used to help determine whether or not an adult exhibits symptoms of autism.[22] The AQ has subsequently been used in hundreds of studies including one study of half a million people, showing robust sex differences and higher scores in those who work in STEM.[23]
Baron-Cohen developed the Mindreading software for special education,[24] which was nominated for an award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) interactive award in 2002.[25] His lab developed The Transporters, an animation series designed to teach children with autism to recognise and understand emotions. The series was also nominated for a BAFTA award.[8][26]
Glen Elliott, a UCSF psychiatrist, is skeptical of Baron-Cohen's claim that historical figures displayed autistic traits. This is because he views attempting to diagnose on the basis of biographical information as extremely unreliable, and claims that any behaviour can have various causes.[27]
He is the Chair of the Psychology Section of the British Academy.[34]
Recognition
Baron-Cohen was awarded the 1990 Spearman Medal from the BPS,[35] the McAndless Award from the American Psychological Association,[36] the 1993 May Davidson Award for Clinical Psychology from the BPS,[37] and the 2006 presidents' Award from the BPS.[38] He was awarded the Kanner-Asperger Medal in 2013 by the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Autismus-Spektrum as a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to autism research.[1]
In 2010, Norwegian documentarian Harald Eia published the TV series Hjernevask ("Brainwash") in which Baron-Cohen appeared during two episodes about gender differences in new-born children.[40]
In 2016, he appeared in all 3 episodes of the BBC Two documentary Employable Me, showing the talents in people with autism and how these could be a benefit to employers.[41]
The Essential Difference: Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain. Penguin/Basic Books. 2003. ISBN978-0-7139-9671-5.
Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Facts. Oxford University Press. 2008. ISBN978-0-19-850490-0.
Zero Degrees of Empathy: A New Theory of Human Cruelty. Penguin/Allen Lane. 2011. ISBN978-0-7139-9791-0. (published in the US as The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Human Cruelty, ISBN978-0-465-02353-0)
Other books
Baron-Cohen S, Tager-Flusberg H, Lombardo MV, eds. (2013). Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives From Social Cognitive Neuroscience (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-852446-5.
Hadwin J, Howlin P, Baron-Cohen S (2008). Teaching Children with Autism to Mindread: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Parents. Wiley. ISBN978-0-471-97623-3.
Baron-Cohen S, Lutchmaya S, Knickmeyer R (2005). Prenatal Testosterone in Mind: Amniotic Fluid Studies. MIT Press/Bradford Books. ISBN978-0-262-26774-8.
Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S (2004). An Exact Mind: An Artist with Asperger Syndrome. Jessica Kingsley. ISBN978-1-84310-032-4.
Baron-Cohen S; Tager-Flusberg H; Cohen DJ, eds. (2000). Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-852445-8.
Baron-Cohen S, Harrison J, eds. (1997). Synaesthesia: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Blackwells. ISBN978-0-631-19763-8.
Baron-Cohen S, ed. (1997). The Maladapted Mind: Classic Readings in Evolutionary Psychopathology. East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press/Taylor Francis Group. ISBN0-86377-460-1.
Selected journal articles
Baron-Cohen S, Leslie AM, Frith U (October 1985). "Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"?". Cognition. 21 (1): 37–46. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8. PMID2934210.
Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S, Skinner R, Martin J, Clubley E (February 2001). "The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians". J Autism Dev Disord. 31 (1): 5–17. doi:10.1023/A:1005653411471. PMID11439754.
Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S, Hill J, Raste Y, Plumb I (February 2001). "The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism". J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 42 (2): 241–51. doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00715. PMID11280420.
^"Spearman medal". The British Psychological Society: History of Psychology Centre. Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
