Autism may have had advantages in humans' hunter-gatherer past, researcher believes

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110603122849.htm

Autism May Have Had Advantages in Humans' Hunter-Gatherer Past,

Researcher Believes

ScienceDaily (June 3, 2011) — Though people with autism face many

challenges because of their condition, they may have been capable

hunter-gatherers in prehistoric times, according to a paper published in

the journal /Evolutionary Psychology/ in May.

The autism spectrum may represent not disease, but an ancient way of

life for a minority of ancestral humans, said Reser, a brain

science researcher and doctoral candidate in the USC Psychology Department.

Some of the genes that contribute to autism may have been selected and

maintained because they created beneficial behaviors in a solitary

environment, amounting to an autism advantage, Reser said....

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Reser. *

Conceptualizing the autism spectrum in terms of natural selection and

behavioral ecology: The solitary forager hypothesis*. /Evolutionary

Psychology/, 2011; 9 (2): 207-238

link <http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP092072382.pdf>