The team co-led by Inserm researcher Mathias PESSIGLIONE, in collaboration with a Canadian team, studied the mimetic desire in autistic people that could explain the altered interactions and social motivation in them.
Diagnosis of Autism
The diagnosis of ASD is based on:
- Presence of the 3 signs of the social interaction/communication dimension
- Presence of at least 2 signs of the behaviours and interests dimension
- The presence of signs since early childhood
- A significant impact on a person's life
On the other hand, the signs should not be better explained by another neurodevelopmental or mental disorder.
The level of severity (3 different levels) and whether or not ASD is associated with:
- A disorder of intellectual development
- Altered language
- A known environmental or genetic factor
- Another neurodevelopmental or mental disorder
At Paris Brain Institute
The team co-directed by Mathias PESSIGLIONE, an Inserm researcher, in collaboration with a Canadian team, has studied mimetic desire in autistic people, which could explain the alteration in their interactions and social motivation.
Mimetic desire corresponds to the spontaneous tendency to desire the same things as others, for example for children the same toy as their classmate.
People with ASD are often confused by changes in their environment, such as furniture at home or a change of teacher at school. They often display repetitive behaviours such as swaying or clapping in their hands. Repetition patterns such as eating the same food at each meal or watching the same video every day can also be observed.
Children and adults with autism may have very specific, very restricted and sometimes strange interests, such as electric motors, garbage bags and traffic signs.
Symptoms related to the 5 senses may manifest as hyper or hypo reactivity to an odour, cold or pain.
People with autism frequently have one or more associated disorders (mental or other disorders, e.g. cardiac, neurological, etc.)
About one-third of people with autism have an intellectual developmental disorder (i.e., with an IQ <70).
It is estimated that 1 in 5 people with autism have epilepsy.
Some patients have very focused and specialized extreme abilities, such as strong mental calculation skills or absolute ear. But these abilities are rare and are not part of the diagnostic criteria.
