Re: Autism study shows relationship between increase in Wh...

[Guest guest]

Very interesting article. I myself wasn't very good at sports, except for the shooting, but even then I could target shoot or hit ground targets, even moving ones, but couldn't do anything with skeet. I can throw reasonably well, but oddly "shafted" things like sticks or hatchets better than balls. It also took me a while to learn to ride a bike and I never could do the stunts like the others could do.

I wonder if this wouldn't also apply to driving/ I have a very hard time coordinating all the different movements needed, which is why I never drive, though I'm sure I could in an emergency.

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[Guest guest]

>

> Very interesting article. I myself wasn't very good at sports,

except for

> the shooting, but even then I could target shoot or hit ground

targets, even

> moving ones, but couldn't do anything with skeet. I can throw

reasonably well,

> but oddly " shafted " things like sticks or hatchets better than

balls. It also

> took me a while to learn to ride a bike and I never could do the

stunts like

> the others could do.

>

> I wonder if this wouldn't also apply to driving/ I have a very hard

time

> coordinating all the different movements needed, which is why I

never drive,

> though I'm sure I could in an emergency.

>

>

>

I also had very scattered skills. Manipulation of tiny objects

(beading, screen printing, accuracy close to my face) archery was a

no way (I could never hit a target) My own personal space management

I was excellent (controlled body movement but only if I understood

the steps and mechanics involved) So I could excecute a dive, I was

in gymnastics. I perfected a few moves on the uneven bars, but could

never do floor excercises (but I could do a perfect handstand in

water:being stock strait and I perfected my own cartwheel) but never

extended beyond that

I cannot drive a manual transmission and sometimes driving I am

unsure how I ever got here to there, but I can parallel park and

judge proximity to other objects.

I can accurately measure by eye in american measure. inch foot yard

I could shoot a 3 point basketball shot but not play worth a darn

I can also guage a mans waist size by eye as well as womens sizes

So I have an odd knack for measure but I am only a sprinter, can't

run. I can bicycle for hours if I must or decide I will, but rarely

will I do it for fun

I wonder if there is a correlation of physical characteristics.

Like hand eye, or exactness of movement(I almost never bump into

someone:as if I have an invisible 1 " shield)

I would like to hear other experiences of spatial ability perhaps

male is different from female

I am actually visually attracted to accuracy vs. blunt skill like

football or hockey

[Guest guest]

" Very interesting article. I myself wasn't very good at sports,

except for the shooting, but even then I could target shoot or hit

ground targets, even moving ones, but couldn't do anything with

skeet. I can throw reasonably well, but oddly " shafted " things like

sticks or hatchets better than balls. "

All of the above is also true for me.

" It also took me a while to learn to ride a bike and I never could

do the stunts like the others could do. "

Never had a problem with bikes or doing stunts on them.

" I wonder if this wouldn't also apply to driving/ I have a very hard

time coordinating all the different movements needed, which is why I

never drive, though I'm sure I could in an emergency. "

I can do what it takes to operate a motor vehicle, but I hate to

drive anywhere where the traffic is heavy. I much prefer driving on

an empty interstate highway.

Too many distractions (meaning pedestrians on the sidewalk, having

to look out for anything running about between cars, etc.) and I

find it hard to concentrate on what I am doing. I will turn the

radio very low or off in populated areas. If I listen to anything,

it is usually classical.

On the open road it is rock music, but only at low or moderate

volume.

Maybe it is just where I live, but it seems to me that I live in a

neighborhood where kids enjoy playing by the curbs while their

parents don't care. Arthritic old ladies walking their dogs seem to

lose control of the animals whenever I am around so the dogs bound

around unleashed. Squirrels seem to enjoy racing across the street

as fast as they can only to stop in the middle of it in front of my

car. Birds dip low when crossing the street so they almost skate

across the windshield like a low flying kite. Other vehicles " coast "

through stop signs, signal for left turns and turn right, or signal

for right turns and turn left. Or don't signal at all. Or drive with

their signals on for a mile or two (sometimes with a cop right

behind them who does nothing to them, but then bolts over to an

adjacent lane to pull over some guy who is going five miles an hour

slower and who has not broken any law that I can see). THOSE are the

things that make it difficult for me to drive.

Tom

Administrator

[Guest guest]

" I would like to hear other experiences of spatial ability perhaps

male is different from female. "

In public, all movements are designed to avoid touching other

people. I cannot stand the feel of fabric or skin on mine unless I

am prepared for it.

The one thing I forgot to mention earlier, is that I do seem to have

pretty good reflexes. I can grab a fly out of the air if it is

annoying me, and if someone tosses somenthing at me (like car keys

or whatever) unexpectedly, I can catch them.

But ask me to stand there in left field and hold up my glove to

catch an incoming ball and I cannot do it. I could calculate the

trajectory and the arc of descent, and I still will not catch it.

Tom

Administrator

[Guest guest]

>

Maybe it is just where I live, but it seems to me that I live in a

neighborhood where kids enjoy playing by the curbs while their

parents don't care. Arthritic old ladies walking their dogs seem to

lose control of the animals whenever I am around so the dogs bound

around unleashed. Squirrels seem to enjoy racing across the street

as fast as they can only to stop in the middle of it in front of my

car. Birds dip low when crossing the street so they almost skate

across the windshield like a low flying kite. Other vehicles " coast "

through stop signs, signal for left turns and turn right, or signal

for right turns and turn left. Or don't signal at all. Or drive with

their signals on for a mile or two (sometimes with a cop right

behind them who does nothing to them, but then bolts over to an

adjacent lane to pull over some guy who is going five miles an hour

slower and who has not broken any law that I can see). THOSE are the

things that make it difficult for me to drive.

Mimi says: that used to happen to me quite often. (as If I was

magnetic) I learned to take in the whole view or exude as little of

myself in the space of the car. (more on guard more magnetic)

Maybe that kind of stuff is what we are, we limit all interaction

because we only need a spoonful to feel while others need a 1 gallon

container

Anyway I could ride a bike without using the handlebars, rollerskate

skate board, dive

[Guest guest]

>

> " I would like to hear other experiences of spatial ability perhaps

> male is different from female. "

>

> In public, all movements are designed to avoid touching other

> people. I cannot stand the feel of fabric or skin on mine unless I

> am prepared for it.

>

> The one thing I forgot to mention earlier, is that I do seem to

have

> pretty good reflexes. I can grab a fly out of the air if it is

> annoying me, and if someone tosses somenthing at me (like car keys

> or whatever) unexpectedly, I can catch them.

>

> But ask me to stand there in left field and hold up my glove to

> catch an incoming ball and I cannot do it. I could calculate the

> trajectory and the arc of descent, and I still will not catch it.

>

> Tom

> Administrator

>

Ditto on all counts so no male female discord (could do the fly thing

to0) I can pick up snakes, frogs, crabs and fish this way(But

spiders bug me) I think it is because I am their favorite food

[Guest guest]

I have the same problems... I can at " low speed " do things very

precisely but to do then at speed or in combinations with other movements

I'm a total spaz... My guess is that it's a matter of needing to

consciously control the movement instead of letting the " auto

repeat " mode and let my cerebellum handle the task... The same sort

of way I need to monitor my interactions with people to cover the my not

picking up on the subtile things that most people do catch. I had a

lot of trouble learning to ride a bike too. I must have been at

least 10 or 11. I wanted to get away from home and be by

myself... I do it very well now, at one point I was logging 200+

miles a week for " relaxation " around the same 7-12mile

circuit...

Learning to drive was a pain too when I leaned nearly 40 years ago... But

it was something I had to learn and I did... but for a long time driving

a different car was very uncomfortable... I had to do a lot of travelling

for work at one point and spending a couple years driving a rental every

couple of weeks helps break you of that discomfort. Now it's almost

like walking...

There are a few reason linear objects are easier the throw than blocky

objects or spheres... linear objects have a preferred direction of flight

and (when not in a vacuum) they quickly damp out rotation not along their

axis which is their preferred direction of flight. And any angular motion

along their axis will provide a gyro stabilizing effect. A sphere

has no preferred axis but any angular motion of a sphere will

result in a lift effect that will pull it off course... blocky and

irregular objects do strange things depend on their shape and center of

gravity...

I remember watching the early years of " Wide World of Sports "

and seeing the gymnasts do things that seemed impossible and I wanted to

be able the do it too... but not being able to move without conscious

intervention made me look like a spaz and got me laughed out of that and

every other athletic thing I tried...

Ender

At 01:04 PM 8/1/2007, you wrote:

Very interesting

article. I myself wasn't very good at sports, except for the shooting,

but even then I could target shoot or hit ground targets, even moving

ones, but couldn't do anything with skeet. I can throw reasonably well,

but oddly " shafted " things like sticks or hatchets better than

balls. It also took me a while to learn to ride a bike and I never could

do the stunts like the others could do.

I wonder if this wouldn't also apply to driving/ I have a very hard time

coordinating all the different movements needed, which is why I never

drive, though I'm sure I could in an emergency.

[Guest guest]

This is a weird area for me. My posture has always been a little off. I think that combined with my general social-distance "aloofness" that has often led people to presume I'm not very coordinated. But the reverse is generally true. As a kid most of the time I actually rode without my hands on the handlebars. I've even stood on the seat, no hands, while coasting downhill. In archery class the instructor told everyone to stop and look at how I was doing it- I was the best he'd seen in a long time- It was a natural talent. Similarly at summer camp at the shooting range. My posture has always been abnormal- The brain infection that nearly killed me at nineteen months also gave me a mild case of cerebral palsy- I didn't know what it was until just recently and I'm kind of angry at all the doctors I saw never either realizing or bothering to tell me what it was. The infection altered the parts of the brain controlling muscle

tonicity, such that I what is called a slight "crouch gait"- bent knees and elbows- and was a severe toe-walker. (As I move into old age decrepitude my eyesight has detiorated beyond the capability of lenses to correct, so my aim in sports has greatly suffered and with respect to my gait I'm now using a cane.) I recall when my dad had Parkinsons finding out that the symptoms differed considerably from individual to individual depending on what specific tracts in the brain had undergone damage from Parkinsons. I kind of think of autism the same way- in my case the brain infection affected parts of the brain dealing with muscle tonicity as well as emotional expressiveness, verbal-motor expressiveness, various frontal and prefrontal cortex tracts, amygdala-hippocampal area, etcetera and etcetera. But other areas that are often affected in cases of autisms were left relatively unscathed, such as physical coordination, math-related areas,

musical-related areas, (some savantism going on in those), and so on. In the case of the article on the research finding that autisms are somewhat associated with problems with coordination- I didn't really read it in any detail. One the one hand it's a total no-brainer (so to speak) in that there are in many cases of autism widespread disruptions of neurodevelopmental processes. On the other hand, there are so many reports such as this that fail to take an overview perspective looking at the sort of thinking I wrote in the previous paragraph- That in individual cases different parts of the brain are likely to be impacted, such that in looking at all cases of autisms you will usually find ~someone~ or a few that have certain specific mental functions affected. So I usually ignore such articles on studies. Rgarding sex differences in spatial

information processing- Hegarty at the University of California at Santa Barbara has done some very interesting research on that from a cognitive psychology approach. Among other things she's found, that for both sexes, there are basically three different systems dealing with different size magnitudes. This strongly suggests to me at least that women may have more resources allocated to the smallest size magnitudes as reflected in knitting, sewing, and their general trouncing of male scores on vocational aptitude tests of abilities like putting pegs of different shapes into boards and so on (which is probably at least ~part~ of the reason why early "switchboard" operators for telephone companies were overwhelmingly women). The piont is, and this has been known for a long time in the animal behavior and ecology research literature, that to the extent that selection pressures, tasks if you like, have differed between the sexes consistently and over evolutionary time

scales, then those selection pressures can act to shape, optimize, the functioning within the body-brain types of the two sexes. oops out of time on the library computer have to stop here Heph miminm <mnmimi@...> wrote: > > "I would like to hear other experiences of spatial ability perhaps> male is different from female."> > In public, all movements are designed to avoid touching other > people. I cannot stand the feel of fabric or skin on mine unless I > am prepared for it.> > The one thing I forgot to mention earlier, is that I do seem to have > pretty good reflexes. I can grab a fly out of the air if it is > annoying me, and if someone tosses somenthing at me (like car keys > or whatever) unexpectedly, I can catch them. > > But ask me to stand there in left field and hold up my

glove to > catch an incoming ball and I cannot do it. I could calculate the > trajectory and the arc of descent, and I still will not catch it.> > Tom> Administrator>Ditto on all counts so no male female discord (could do the fly thing to0) I can pick up snakes, frogs, crabs and fish this way(But spiders bug me) I think it is because I am their favorite food Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with FareChase.

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