Simon Baron-Cohen

Template:Use British English Template:Infobox scientist Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958)<ref name="Salmantheguardian">Template:Cite news</ref> is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College.

In 1985, Baron-Cohen formulated the mindblindness theory of autism, the evidence for which he collated and published in 1995. In 1997, he formulated the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism, the key test of which was published in 2015. In 2003, Baron-Cohen formulated the empathising-systemising (E-S) theory of autism and typical sex differences, the key test of which was published in 2018.<ref name="Greenberg_2018" />

Baron-Cohen has also made major contributions to research on autism prevalence and screening, autism genetics, autism neuroimaging, autism and vulnerability, autism intervention and synaesthesia. He was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to people with autism. In 2023, Baron-Cohen was awarded the Medical Research Council (MRC) Millennium Medal.<ref name="wins">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life and education

Baron-Cohen was born into a Jewish family in London, the second son of Judith and Hyman Vivian Baron-Cohen.<ref name="Glazer_2010">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Suzie">Template:Cite news</ref> Baron-Cohen has an elder brother, Dan Baron Cohen, and three younger siblings: brother Ash Baron-Cohen and sisters Suzie and Liz.<ref name="Suzie"/> His cousins include actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and composer Erran Baron Cohen.<ref name="Glazer_2010" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=QA>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

His maternal uncle was Canadian racing driver and constructor David Greenblatt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His maternal great-uncle was endocrinologist Robert Benjamin Greenblatt.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Baron-Cohen completed a BA in human sciences at New College, Oxford, and an MPhil in clinical psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He received a PhD in psychology at University College London;<ref name=ARCBio/> Baron-Cohen's doctoral research was in collaboration with his supervisor, Uta Frith.<ref name= PMC2409181>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Career

Baron-Cohen is professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.<ref name=ARCBio/> He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a Fellow of Trinity College.<ref name=ARCBio>Template:Cite web</ref>

Baron-Cohen is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS),<ref name=Chartered>Template:Cite web</ref> the British Academy,<ref name=BAFellow>Template:Cite web</ref> the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal Society of Medicine<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Association for Psychological Science.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He is a BPS Chartered Psychologist<ref name= Chartered/> and a Senior Investigator at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Baron-Cohen serves as vice-president of the National Autistic Society (UK),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was the 2012 chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guideline Development Group for adults with autism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has served as vice-president and president of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR).<ref name=ARCBio/> Baron-Cohen was the founding co-editor-in-chief of the journal Molecular Autism.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Baron-Cohen was the chair of the Psychology Section of the British Academy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is also a clinical psychologist who created the first diagnosis clinic in the UK for late autism diagnosis in adults.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Baron-Cohen gave the keynote lecture on the topic of Autism and Human Rights at the United Nations on World Autism Awareness Day in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Research

The mindblindness theory of autism

Baron-Cohen has worked in autism research for over 40 years, starting in 1982. In 1985, while he was member of the MRC Cognitive Development Unit (CDU) in London, Baron-Cohen and his colleagues Uta Frith and Alan Leslie formulated the "theory of mind" (ToM) hypothesis, to explain the social-communication difficulties in autism. ToM (also known as "cognitive empathy") is the brain's partially innate mechanism for rapidly making sense of social behavior by effortlessly attributing mental states to others, enabling behavioral prediction and social communication skills.<ref name="SFARI">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Baron-Cohen_1985">Template:Cite journal</ref> They confirmed this using the false belief test, showing that a typical four-year-old child can infer another person's belief that is different to their own, while autistic children on average are delayed in this ability.<ref name="Baron-Cohen_1985" />

Baron-Cohen's 1995 book, Mindblindness summarized his subsequent experiments in ToM and the disability in ToM in autism. Baron-Cohen went on to show that autistic children are blind to the mentalistic significance of the eyes and show difficulties in advanced ToM, measured by the "reading the mind in the eyes test" (or "eyes test") that he designed.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He conducted the first neuroimaging study of ToM in typical and autistic adults, and studied patients with acquired brain damage, demonstrating lesions in the orbito- and medial-prefrontal cortex and amygdala can impair ToM.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Baron-Cohen also reported the first evidence of atypical amygdala function in autism during ToM.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2017, his team studied 80,000 genotyped individuals who took the eyes test. Baron-Cohen found single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) partly contribute to individual differences on this dimensional trait measure on which autistic people show difficulties.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This was the evidence that cognitive empathy/ToM is partly heritable. The National Institutes of Health recommended Baron-Cohen's eyes test as a core measure that should be used as part of the Research Domain Criteria (RDOC) for assessing social cognition.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory

In 1997, Baron-Cohen developed the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory. Empathizing includes both cognitive empathy (imagining what someone else is thinking or feeling) and affective empathy (responding with an appropriate emotion to what someone is thinking or feeling). Systemizing is the drive to analyse or construct rule-based systems to understand how things work. A system is defined as anything that follows if-and-then patterns or rules.

The E-S theory argues that typical females on average score higher on empathizing relative to systemizing (they are more likely to have a brain of type E), and typical males on average score higher on systemizing relative to empathizing (they are more likely to have a brain of type S). Autistic people are predicted to score as an extreme of the typical male (they are more likely to have a brain of type S or extreme type S).<ref name="Scientific American 2012">Template:Cite news Pdf. Now in Template:Cite book</ref> These predictions were confirmed in a 2018 online study of 600,000 non-autistic people and 36,000 autistic people. This also confirmed that autistic people on average are "hyper-systemizers".<ref name="Greenberg_2018">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Working with the personal genomics company 23andMe, Baron-Cohen's team studied 56,000 genotyped individuals who had taken the Systemizing Quotient. He and his colleagues found that the common genetic variants associated with systemizing overlapped with the common genetic variants associated with autism. Baron-Cohen concluded that the genetics of autism not only includes genes associated with disability, but also include genes associated with talent in pattern recognition and understanding how things work.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Prenatal neuroendocrinology

Baron-Cohen investigated whether higher levels of prenatal testosterone explain the increased rate of autism among males.<ref name="Scientific American 2012" /> In his 2004 book Prenatal Testosterone in Mind (MIT Press), Baron-Cohen put forward the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He proposed this theory to understand why autism is more common in males. Using the Cambridge Child Development Project that Baron-Cohen established in 1997, a longitudinal study studying children of 600 women who had undergone amniocentesis in pregnancy, he followed these children postnatally. This study demonstrated, for the first time in humans, how normative variation in amniotic prenatal testosterone levels correlates with individual differences in typical postnatal brain and behavioral development. Baron-Cohen's team discovered that in typical children, amount of eye contact, rate of vocabulary development, quality of social relationships, theory of mind performance, and scores on the empathy quotient are all inversely correlated with prenatal testosterone levels. In contrast, they found that scores on the embedded figures test (of attention to detail), on the systemizing quotient (SQ), measures of narrow interests, and number of autistic traits are positively correlated with prenatal testosterone levels.<ref name="pmid21695109">Template:Cite journal</ref> Within this study, Baron-Cohen's team conducted the first human neuroimaging studies of brain grey matter regional volumes and brain activity associated with prenatal testosterone.<ref name="pmid22238103">Template:Cite journal</ref> But to really test the theory, Baron-Cohen needed a much larger sample than his Cambridge Child Development Project, autism only occurs in 3% of the population.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> So, in 2015, he set up a collaboration with the Danish Biobank which has stored over 20 thousand amniotic fluid samples, which Baron-Cohen linked to later diagnosis of autism via the Danish Psychiatric Register. He tested the prenatal androgens and found that children later diagnosed as autistic were exposed to elevated levels of prenatal testosterone, and the Δ4 sex steroid precursors to prenatal testosterone.<ref name="Baron-Cohen_2015">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2019, Baron-Cohen tested the same cohort's levels of exposure to prenatal estrogens and again found these were elevated in pregnancies that resulted in autism.<ref name="Baron-Cohen 1–9">Template:Cite journal</ref> Other clues for the theory came from his postnatal hormonal studies which found that autistic adults have elevated circulating androgens in serum<ref name="pmid20877284">Template:Cite journal</ref> and that the autistic brain in women is 'masculinized' in both grey and white matter brain volume.<ref name="pmid23935125">Template:Cite journal</ref> An independent animal model by Xu et al. (2015, Physiology and Behavior, 138, 13–20) showed that elevated prenatal testosterone during pregnancy leads to reduced social interest in the offspring. Baron-Cohen's group also studied the rate of autism in offspring of mothers with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a medical condition caused by elevated prenatal testosterone. He found that in women with PCOS, the odds of having a child with autism are significantly increased.<ref name="pmid30065244">Template:Cite journal</ref> This has been replicated in three other countries (Sweden, Finland, and Israel) and is in line with the finding that mothers of autistic children themselves have elevated sex steroid hormones.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> These novel studies provide evidence of the role of prenatal hormones, interacting with genetic predisposition, in the cause of autism.

Other contributions

In 2006, Baron-Cohen proposed the assortative mating theory which states that if individuals with a systemizing or "type S" brain type have a child, the child is more likely to be autistic.<ref name="Scientific American 2012" /><ref name="Time">Template:Cite magazineTemplate:Subscription required</ref> One piece of evidence for this theory came from his population study in Eindhoven, where autism rates are twice as high in that city which is an IT hub, compared to other Dutch cities.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He also found both mothers and fathers of autistic children score above average on tests of attention to detail, a prerequisite for strong systemizing.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 2001, Baron-Cohen developed the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ), a set of 50 questions that measures how many autistic traits a person has.<ref name="Woodbury-Smith">Template:Cite journal</ref> This was one of the first measures to show that autistic traits run right through the general population and that autistic people on average simply score higher than non-autistic people. The finding that AQ is associated with scientific and mathematical talent has been found in multiple studies, suggesting these may have shared mechanism such as strong systemizing. The AQ has subsequently been used in hundreds of studies including one study of half a million people, showing robust sex differences and higher scores in those who work in STEM.<ref name="Greenberg_2018" /><ref name="pmid26488477">Template:Cite journal</ref> Multiple studies have also shown that both psychological and biological variables correlate with the number of autistic traits a person has.<ref>Ruzich, E, Allison, C, Smith, P, Watson, P, Auyeung, B, Ring, H, & Baron-Cohen, S, (2015) Measuring autistic traits in the general population: a systematic review of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) in a nonclinical population sample of 6,900 typical adult males and females. Molecular Autism, 6, 2.</ref>

Baron-Cohen also developed Mindreading, for use in special education.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> His team also developed The Transporters, an animation series aimed at teaching emotion recognition to younger autistic children,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and conducted the first clinical trial of lego therapy in the UK, finding that autistic children improve in social skills following this.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Baron-Cohen has also contributed to applied autism research. He found that autistic people are being failed by the criminal justice system,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and have higher rates of suicidality,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> higher rates of postnatal depression,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and higher rates of mental<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and physical health conditions.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Reception

Spectrum News had described the work of Baron-Cohen on theory of mind as "a landmark study".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Lancet described him as "a man with extraordinary knowledge, but his passionate advocacy for a more tolerant, diverse society, where difference is respected and cultivated, reveals a very human side to his science".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Baron-Cohen's book The Essential Difference was described by The Guardian as "compelling and inspiring" while his book,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Pattern Seekers was selected as the Editor's Choice by The New York Times.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A book review published in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences characterized The Essential Difference as "very disappointing".<ref name="Levy">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Baron-Cohen and his book The Science of Evil were described by The New York Times "an award-winning psychologist" who had "unveiled a simple but persuasive hypothesis for a new way to think about evil."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Baron-Cohen's "empathizing-systemizing theory" was published in Science, and states that humans may be classified on the basis of their scores along two dimensions (empathizing and systemizing); and that females tend to score higher on the empathizing dimension and males tend to score higher on the systemizing dimension. Feminist scientists, including Cordelia Fine, neuroscientist Gina Rippon, and Lise Eliot have questioned his extreme male brain theory of autism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Guest_2019">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Costandi_2019">Template:Cite web</ref> Baron-Cohen has defended the study of sex differences against their charges of neurosexism, clarifying that gender differences only apply to differences on average between groups of males and females, and agrees that it would be sexist and unacceptable to prejudge an individual based on their gender since a person's mind may not be typical of their gender.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Multiple data sets have now confirmed the E-S and extreme male brain theories.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Critics also argue that Baron-Cohen's focus on autistic people without intellectual or learning disability limits how far his findings can be generalised. Baron-Cohen has acknowledged that a disproportionate amount of autism research globally is conducted with autistic people without learning (intellectual) disabilities and has called for more research with autistic people who have learning disabilities, to ensure that autism research serves the whole autism community. But he challenges this criticism in pointing out that even among those with learning disability, strong systemizing is observed.<ref name="Buchen">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Baron-Cohen, S, Bowen, D, Holt, R, Allison, C, Auyeung, B, Lombardo, M, Smith, P, & Lai, M-C, (2015) The 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test: complete absence of typical sex difference in ~ 400 men and women with autism. PLoS ONE, 10, e0136521</ref>

The theory of mind deficit hypothesis, especially the universal core deficit version, has faced criticisms from some people in the autism community and from researchers.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="ReferenceC">Template:Cite journal</ref> Baron-Cohen has commented that many studies have replicated the findings with group-level on-average differences, despite the heterogeneity of autism in terms of empathy and ToM, including multiple studies conducted by Baron-Cohen in recent years, which found that around 40–60% of autistic people have impaired ToM and empathy, whereas the other 40–60% of autistic people are unimpaired or above average in ToM and empathy.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Some people in the autism community<ref name="ReferenceA"/> have argued that non-autistic people are as blind to the mental states of autistic people as autistic people are to those of non-autistic people.<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="ReferenceC"/> This is referred to as the "double-empathy" problem.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Recognition

Baron-Cohen was awarded the 1990 Spearman Medal from the BPS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the McAndless Award from the American Psychological Association,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the 1993 May Davidson Award for Clinical Psychology from the BPS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the 2006 Presidents' Award from the BPS.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Baron-Cohen received an honorary degree from Abertay University in 2012,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was awarded the Kanner-Asperger Medal in 2013 by the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Autismus-Spektrum as a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to autism research.<ref name=WGAS>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to people with autism.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Baron-Cohen's Mindreading and The Transporters special educational software were nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards in 2002 and 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2023, Baron-Cohen was awarded the Medical Research Council (MRC) Millennium Medal for his work on the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism and the transformative contributions to autism.<ref name="wins" />

Personal life

In 1987, Baron-Cohen married Bridget Lindley.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Together, they had three children.<ref name="Time"/>

Selected publications

Single-authored books

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• Template:Cite book (published in the US as The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Human Cruelty, Template:ISBN)
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Other books

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Selected journal articles

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See also

• Childhood Autism Spectrum Test
• Sally–Anne test
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• Spectrum 10K

External links

• Profile – Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
• "They just can't help it", Simon Baron-Cohen, The Guardian (17 April 2003)
• "The Male Condition", Simon Baron-Cohen, The New York Times Op-Ed Section (8 August 2005)
• "The Assortative Mating Theory: A Talk with Simon Baron-Cohen", Edge Foundation discussion, 2005
• "The Short Life of a Diagnosis", Simon Baron-Cohen The New York Times Op-Ed Section (9 November 2009)
• "Why a lack of empathy is the root of all evil", Clint Witchalls, The Independent (5 April 2011)
• The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty, Simon Baron-Cohen (The Montréal Review, October 2011)