Note: this document describes what I do not have, see below
See also: NT Experience, Autism Experience, My Experience
The word “salience” has to do with assigning importance to something. In computer vision it is identifying parts of an image that are important.
Social salience network is the label for a very low level part of the brain that gives meaning and importance to social signals. For example in Theory of Mind an NT person will observe a large number of nonverbal cues as input to their simulation. Social Saliency grades these and decides what inputs are important. Sort of a gain control on the primary signal.
Social saliency doesn’t just apply to nonverbal cues, it also affects:
- perception
- cognition
- memory
- anticipation
Social salience is roughly the volume control on the social signal.
Note: the social salience network is primarily the anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Yeah, I don’t know where those are either, but if you are curious, that is what I read!
My Experience: Lack of Social Saliency, Signal Blindness
This signal blindness, the lack of any social signal, is the main key to my condition and behavior.
I experience a complete lack of social saliency – the volume on the social signal is turned to zero. It is Pure A-salience, a complete signal blindness (hence the website name).
I don’t receive any social signals. I don’t pick up nonverbal cues. I don’t know what people are thinking or how they are feeling unless they explicitly tell me. I didn’t even know this was a thing!
I am not only missing the social signal but also the social connections and pressures that go along with it. I don’t particularly care what another person thinks of me: either they are right and I should take note or they are wrong and I can ignore it. I don’t experience Shame or a whole host of other socially triggered emotions.
See also: