How Do We Explain ‛Autistic Traits’ in European Upper Palaeolithic Art?

TY - JOUR

T1 - How Do We Explain ‛Autistic Traits’ in European Upper Palaeolithic Art?

AU - Spikins, Penny

AU - Scott, Callum

AU - Wright, Barry John Debenham

N1 - © 2018 Penny Spikins et al., published by De Gruyter.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Traits in Upper Palaeolithic art which are also seen in the work of talented artists with autism, including an exceptional realism, remain to be explained. Debate over explanations has been heated, ranging from such art having been created by individuals with autism spectrum conditions, to being influenced by such individuals, to being a product of the use of psychotropic drugs. Here we argue that 'autistic traits' in art, such as extreme realism, are the product of local processing bias or detail focus. The significance of local processing bias has implications for our understanding of Upper Palaeolithic society.

AB - Traits in Upper Palaeolithic art which are also seen in the work of talented artists with autism, including an exceptional realism, remain to be explained. Debate over explanations has been heated, ranging from such art having been created by individuals with autism spectrum conditions, to being influenced by such individuals, to being a product of the use of psychotropic drugs. Here we argue that 'autistic traits' in art, such as extreme realism, are the product of local processing bias or detail focus. The significance of local processing bias has implications for our understanding of Upper Palaeolithic society.

KW - Upper Palaeolithic

KW - art

KW - autism

KW - detail focus

KW - talent

KW - exceptional realism

U2 - 10.1515/opar-2018-0016

DO - 10.1515/opar-2018-0016

M3 - Article

SN - 2300-6560

VL - 4

SP - 263

EP - 279

JO - Open Archaeology

JF - Open Archaeology

IS - 1

ER -