>>15549>Isn't it true that being on the autism spectrum means that your entire brain chemistry is fundamentally different than somebody who's setup otherwise, basically at a level similar to how men and women are different as well as how children and adults are different? Or am I maybe misinformed about that?It's not chemistry that's different, it's the structure of neural networks in the brain, the chemistry of an autistic brain is fundamentally the same as a neurotypical brain and can be effected by drugs in similar ways to neurotypicals.
Autistic brains often have atypical neural network structure in the prefontal cortex (pfc), the 'seat of thought' in the brain. Typically, they have more connections between cells in their pfc forming more networkss (but smaller network) than
in NTs brains. This might sound like a huge advantage in some way but it basically means autistic brains are less time and energy efficient than NT brains. An autistic brain essentially over-processes information coming in from the senses, to outside observers this can manifest as sensory hypersensitivities, difficulties with emotion regulation, difficulty shifting attention, difficulty with social communication with neurotypical individuals, and heightened attention to details. It can be Advantageous in some contexts, but can lead one to states of information overload in others ( which are highly stressful for the individual, sometimes even physically painful)
