Blindness and sensory acuity
This is only semi-related to autism, but the tendency for autistics to have extremely strong senses got me thinking about various theories about blind people's senses of hearing, smell, etc.
It's often said that when people lack a sense of vision, the other senses become stronger to compensate. It's also said that that is a myth, and their senses don't actually get any stronger. But I suspect that it's really a little of both: the physical ability to perceive things stays the same, but the mental aspect of the sense-- the ability to notice it-- gets more developed.
I've ridden the bus with blind people who could tell the difference in sound between a regular bus and a long two-section bus. I suspect that most people could perceive that those two sounds are different, if you played them one after the other and asked people if they heard a difference. But most people don't notice the difference, because they never need to, and so they find it amazing when someone does.
I wonder if the sensory acuity common in autistics might be partly due to similar mental processes, and not just acuteness of the physical senses. My Aspie husband John can taste subtle differences in food, and recognize foods down to each individual ingredient, sometimes even the brand. He seems to have this ability because of his very detailed memory: he remembers exactly what a particular combination of flavors tasted like the last time he ate it, and so he can continue to recognize it, and distinguish it from similar tastes, even much later.
I'm not the typical Aspie (if there is such a thing) when it comes to sensory memory. My memory for non-visual senses isn't as great as John's; after I eat something, I forget most of the experience beyond whether I liked or disliked it. This can be a good thing: I don't get picky about food quality, because I don't remember enough about tastes to notice a huge contrast between the expensive chocolate and the cheap chocolate, for example, unless I eat one right after the other. Maybe a big part of being a gourmet, or a connoisseur of music, or any sensory savant, is having a really good memory.
It's often said that when people lack a sense of vision, the other senses become stronger to compensate. It's also said that that is a myth, and their senses don't actually get any stronger. But I suspect that it's really a little of both: the physical ability to perceive things stays the same, but the mental aspect of the sense-- the ability to notice it-- gets more developed.
I've ridden the bus with blind people who could tell the difference in sound between a regular bus and a long two-section bus. I suspect that most people could perceive that those two sounds are different, if you played them one after the other and asked people if they heard a difference. But most people don't notice the difference, because they never need to, and so they find it amazing when someone does.
I wonder if the sensory acuity common in autistics might be partly due to similar mental processes, and not just acuteness of the physical senses. My Aspie husband John can taste subtle differences in food, and recognize foods down to each individual ingredient, sometimes even the brand. He seems to have this ability because of his very detailed memory: he remembers exactly what a particular combination of flavors tasted like the last time he ate it, and so he can continue to recognize it, and distinguish it from similar tastes, even much later.
I'm not the typical Aspie (if there is such a thing) when it comes to sensory memory. My memory for non-visual senses isn't as great as John's; after I eat something, I forget most of the experience beyond whether I liked or disliked it. This can be a good thing: I don't get picky about food quality, because I don't remember enough about tastes to notice a huge contrast between the expensive chocolate and the cheap chocolate, for example, unless I eat one right after the other. Maybe a big part of being a gourmet, or a connoisseur of music, or any sensory savant, is having a really good memory.