Preprint Review Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

The Neurobiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder As It Relates to Twice Exceptionality

Version 1 : Received: 12 October 2021 / Approved: 15 October 2021 / Online: 15 October 2021 (16:17:13 CEST)

How to cite: Sharkey, R.; Nickl-Jockschat, T. The Neurobiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder As It Relates to Twice Exceptionality . Preprints 2021, 2021100232. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202110.0232.v1 Sharkey, R.; Nickl-Jockschat, T. The Neurobiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder As It Relates to Twice Exceptionality . Preprints 2021, 2021100232. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202110.0232.v1

Abstract

There is a long-standing association between exceptional cognitive abilities, of various sorts, and neuropsychiatric illness, but it has historically largely been investigated in an exploratory and non-systematic way. One group in which this association has been investigated with more rigor is in subjects who have been identified as twice exceptional; an educational term describing subjects who are both gifted and diagnosed with a neuropsychiatric disability. This term covers multiple conditions, but is of specific interest in particular in the study of autism spectrum disorder. Recent findings have led to the development of a hypothesis that a certain degree of the neurobiology associated with autism might even be advantageous for individuals and could lead to high giftedness, while becoming disadvantageous, once a certain threshold is surpassed. In this model, the same neurobiological mechanisms confer an increasing advantage up to a certain threshold, but become pathological past that point. Twice-exceptional individuals would be exactly at the inflection point, being highly gifted, but also symptomatic at the same time. Here, we review how existing neuroimaging literature on autism spectrum disorder can inform research on twice exceptionality specifically. We propose to study key neural networks with a robust implication in ASD to identify the neurobiology underlying twice-exceptionality. A better understanding of the neural mechanisms of twice exceptionality should help to better understand resilience and vulnerability to neurodevelopmental disorders and tofurther support affected individuals.

Keywords

twice exceptionality; autism spectrum disorder; neuroimaging; MRI

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Mental Health

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