Is Autism Spectrum Disorder a software brain problem that makes hardware problems (as secondary effect) ?
software brain problem means problem in brain subsystem's interactions and not connections.
I am not sure if you can find an easy answer for your question. ASD is a very complex disorder with wide range of background aetiologies/risk factors as well as poorly understood pathophysiological mechanisms at the cellular levels. What is known so far is that anatomical structural changes are seen more in this cohort of patients, including frontal cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, as well as amygdaloid nucleus and cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathways. In a recent and comprehensive review, birth & peripartum period was suggested to be the most critical time for the disease pathogenesis.
http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v16/n8/full/nrn3956.html
I don't think it can be split since it is a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum hardware and at the other end software as you call it. Anyhow some Asperger syndrome persons are described as a Ferrari in a 30 KM speed zone. The frustration generated by the context makes them behave strange in the eyes of neurotypical people, but the fact that they tend to be very rational (often cause of the perceived lack of empathy) would make both the software and the hardware concept hard to defend. An ASD who gets in his office and closes the door has no problem anymore. It is the interaction with the context of other people and triggers that cause most problems.
I'm afraid that you are on the wrong track here. Have a look at fMRI studies of non-retarded ASD subjects.
Dear Ghasem
It is not the right way to say like this in the case of ASD.
Please find some article as attachments.
Hope you find these helpful..
Dear Ghasem
Perhaps the attached review can help with explaining the neurophysiological and genetics-related impairments in Autism.
Best
Boaz
Thank you for asking this question which does not seem to have occurred to autism researchers.
I think autism is indeed a software problem leading to changes in the brain's hardware. However, I think the faulty software is in the inner ear, not the brain.
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