EP31: Neural Pruning, Synesthesia, and Autism

The Other Autism

What aspects of the brain differ between autistic people and non-autistic people? Do these brain differences lead to things like synesthesia in autistic people? Synesthesia is when your senses or perceptions overlap, like when you think of a number and see waves of red or some other colour. Or when you can feel in your own body the sensations and physical pain of another, just by looking at them!
In this episode, I also talk about ableist perspectives in autism research, secondary autism, neurons, glial cells, early brain development, mirror-touch synesthesia as the basis of deep empathy, and much more!
Watch this episode on YouTube.
If you'd like to know more about topics discussed in this episode, check out:
"What Is Synaptic Pruning?" by Jacquelyn Cafasso
"Astroglia in Autism Spectrum Disorder" by Kinga Gzielo and Agnieszka Nikiforuk
"Regional Differences in Synaptogenesis in Human Cerebral Cortex" by Peter Huttenlocher and Arun Dabholkar
"Microglia in the Pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorders" by Ryuta Koyama and Yuji Ikegaya
"Astrocytes and Microglia and Their Potential Link With Autism Spectrum Disorders" by Francesco Petrelli et al.
"Balancing Excitation and Inhibition in the Autistic Brain" by Charlotte Pretzsch and Dorothea Floris
"Synaptic Growth, Synesthesia and Savant Abilities" by Martin Silvertant
"Neuroinflammation, Mast Cells, and Glia: Dangerous Liaisons" by Stephen D. Skaper et al.
"Lack of Neuron 'Pruning' May Be Behind Many Brain-Related Conditions" by Clare Wilson
"Microglia and Astrocytes Underlie Neuroinflammation and Synaptic Susceptibility in Autism Spectrum Disorder" by Yue Xiong et al.
Episode outro music: "It's Too Much" by Kristen Hovet

Mindfully Gay Podcast
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Theme music: "Everything Feels New" by Evgeny Bardyuzha.
All episodes written and produced by Kristen Hovet.
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1. Neural Pruning and Synesthesia in Autism (00:00:00)

2. Understanding Syndromic Autism and Neural Pruning (00:14:10)

3. The Connections Between Synapses and Autism (00:26:53)

4. [Ad] Mindfully Gay Podcast (00:27:32)

5. (Cont.) The Connections Between Synapses and Autism (00:28:20)

6. Autistic Brains and Microglial Cell Balance (00:43:33)