An entropic explanation of insistence on sameness in autism
An information theory-based framework is proposed in attempt to explain insistence on sameness in autism as an instance of a general behavior pattern in which an individual tries to reduce surprise and uncertainty. It offers a new definition of autism as an impairment in which cognitive functions are restricted to discrimination, memorization and prediction of tangible properties of the environment. An analogy between insistence on sameness and constrained minimization of the entropy metric is observed and examined for a set of assumptions that describe cognitive limitations of a person with autism. The metric is given by the formula $D_H(R, M) = H(R|M) + H(M|R)$, where $R$ represents seq...
| Authors | Przemysław Śliwiński |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.LG |
| Published | 5 August 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 5 August 2026 |
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