The DOI matches its Crossref record; 234 of the 235 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Autism As a Disorder of High Intelligence
Open accessAbstract
A suite of recent studies has reported positive genetic correlations between autism risk and measures of mental ability. These findings indicate that alleles for autism overlap broadly with alleles for high intelligence, which appears paradoxical given that autism is characterized, overall, by below-average IQ. This paradox can be resolved under the hypothesis that autism etiology commonly involves enhanced, but imbalanced, components of intelligence. This hypothesis is supported by convergent evidence showing that autism and high IQ share a diverse set of convergent correlates, including large brain size, fast brain growth, increased sensory and visual-spatial abilities, enhanced synaptic functions, increased attentional focus, high socioeconomic status, more deliberative decision-making, profession and occupational interests in engineering and physical sciences, and high levels of positive assortative mating. These findings help to provide an evolutionary basis to understanding autism risk as underlain in part by dysregulation of intelligence, a core human-specific adaptation. In turn, integration of studies on intelligence with studies of autism should provide novel insights into the neurological and genetic causes of high mental abilities, with important implications for cognitive enhancement, artificial intelligence, the relationship of autism with schizophrenia, and the treatment of both autism and intellectual disability.
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“Some gifted profiles might share socio-emotional problems with highfunctioning autism, mainly regarding social abilities, adaptation disorders, withdrawal in imaginary and/or intellectual abstraction, attention deficit, clumsiness, excessive attention to restricted interests, and hypersensitivity [7, 15, 16].”
From Behavioral and Socio-Emotional Disorders in Intellectual Giftedness: A Systematic Review (2024) · cites this paper as [16]
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“Notably, it was proposed that the higher cognitive capacities in humans were acquired at the cost of increased susceptibility to mental disease17–19.”
From Distinct selective forces and Neanderthal introgression shaped genetic diversity at genes involved in neurodevelopmental disorders (2017) · cites this paper as [19]
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Cites
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"General Intelligence," Objectively Determined and Measured
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An atlas of genetic correlations across human diseases and traits
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The weak coherence account: detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders
Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0039-0 · Cited by 2,884
Model of autism: increased ratio of excitation/inhibition in key neural systems
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Genetic relationship between five psychiatric disorders estimated from genome-wide SNPs
Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (2013) · Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/ng.2711 · Cited by 2,263
Wai, J., Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. P. (2009) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0016127 · Cited by 2,004
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Crespi, 2016, The evolutionary biology of human neurodevelopment: evo-neuro-devo comes of age, 205
- Hauser, 2002, Meritocracy, Cognitive Ability, and the Sources of Occupational Success
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Getting to the cores of autism
Iakoucheva, L. M., Muotri, A. R., & Sebat, J. (2019) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2019.07.037 · Cited by 260
“This result has led to fascinating speculation as to the potential causative relationship of high intelligence to ASD (Crespi, 2016), but a rigorous dissection of the relationship of ASD PRS with intelligence in the general population is needed.”
BackgroundAntaki, D., Guevara, J., Maihofer, A. X., Klein, M., Gujral, M., Grove, J., Carey, C. E., Hong, O., Arranz, M. J., Hervas, A., et al. (2022) · Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/s41588-022-01064-5 · Cited by 206
Peñuelas‐Calvo, I., Sareen, A., Sevilla‐Llewellyn‐Jones, J., & Fernández‐Berrocal, P. (2018) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3814-4 · Cited by 130
Hou, Q.-L., Wang, Y., Li, Y., Chen, D., Yang, F., & Wang, S. (2018) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00182 · Cited by 115
Saleh, M. W. A., & Mansour, M. (2024) · Accounting Research Journal · doi:10.1108/arj-04-2023-0106 · Cited by 127
Metadata
- Authors
- Crespi, B. J.
- Affiliations
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Crespi, Bernard J.
- ORCID
- Crespi, Bernard J.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2016-06-30
- Volume
- 10
- Pages
- 300-300
- ISSN
- 1662-453X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4927579
- OpenAlex
- W2470385410
- Cited by
- 156
- References
- 235
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 5.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (311201)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, high IQ, genetic correlation, IQ, brain size, brain growth, visuospatial ability, sensory abilities, synaptic function, attention, socioeconomic status, decision-making, career interest, assortative mating, autism etiology, schizophrenia, intellectual disability, cognitive enhancement
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