Page "Simon Baron-Cohen" Paragraph 3

Baron-Cohen ’ s research over the subsequent 10 years provided much of the evidence for the ToM deficit, culminating in two edited anthologies ( Understanding Other Minds, 1993, and 2000 ).

His research group have linked the origins of the ToM deficit to joint attention ( Brit J. Dev Psychol, 1987 ) and showed that absence of joint attention at 18 months is a predictor of later autism ( British Journal of Psychiatry, 1992, 1996 ).

Based on these and other findings, he proposed a model of the development of ‘ mindreading ’ in his widely cited monograph ( Mindblindness, 1995 MIT Press ).

Baron-Cohen has also conducted brain imaging work examining the autistic brain.

These studies highlighted differences between the typical and autistic brain in the orbitofrontal cortex ( Brit.

J. Psychiatry, 1994 ) PMID 7866679 and the amygdala ( Euro.

J. Neuroscience, 1999 ), the latter leading him to propose the amygdala theory of autism ( Neurosci.

Behav.

Rev.

2000 ).

In 2010, with his former doctoral student Michael Lombardo, they showed that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex does not differentiate self from other in autism and accounts for variation in social deficits.

In 2011, with Lombardo, they also showed that the right temporoparietal junction was hypoactive in autism during ToM tasks and also accounted for variation in social deficits.