The Imprinted Brain

How genes set the balance between autism and psychosis
Christopher Badcock Ph.D.
Reviewing the Evidence for Mental Illness Being Epigenetic

Reviewing the Evidence for Mental Illness Being Epigenetic

The basic claim of the imprinted brain theory that gene expression is critical in neuro-development is vindicated by a new review of the data.
Reading Too Much Into the Real Face Book

Reading Too Much Into the Real Face Book

We know that autistics have deficits in interpreting facial expression, but now we also know that, as predicted by the diametric model, people with schizotypal traits do the opposite and exaggerate facial expression.
The X Factor: Genetics and Female Mental Health

The X Factor: Genetics and Female Mental Health

XIST, the gene that controls X chromosome gene expression, is up regulated in psychosis, just as the imprinted brain theory predicts.
Testing the “Extreme Female Brain” Theory of Psychosis

Testing the “Extreme Female Brain” Theory of Psychosis

The “extreme female brain” theory is added to the extreme male one of autism, but both add up to much less than the imprinted brain theory.
The Real Turing Test: Curing Computer Autism

The Real Turing Test: Curing Computer Autism

People would accept that machines could think if a mentalistic user-interface could be engineered to give computers the skills that autistics lack.
Diametric Mentalizing Imaged in Autistic & Psychotic Brains

Diametric Mentalizing Imaged in Autistic & Psychotic Brains

As predicted by the diametric model, brain scanning reveals hyper-active mentalism in schizophrenics but the opposite in autistics.
Lobotomy Cuts Both Ways (Diametrically Speaking)!

Lobotomy Cuts Both Ways (Diametrically Speaking)!

A patient cured of epilepsy by brain surgery acquired hyper-mentalistic symptoms as implied by the diametric model and predicted by the imprinted brain theory.
Diametric Differences in Seeing the Other’s Point of View

Diametric Differences in Seeing the Other’s Point of View

Both tendencies to autism and proneness to psychosis induce perspective-taking errors, but their interaction reduces these errors: a finding only explicable by the diametric model.
Beyond the Divided Self: Why Mental Conflict Is Normal

Beyond the Divided Self: Why Mental Conflict Is Normal

Although inner conflict has traditionally been pathologized, the diametric model shows it to be normal.
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rules—But Whose Hand Is It?

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rules—But Whose Hand Is It?

The history of the nature/nurture controversy reveals fraud on the nurture side and developments in our view of nature that the imprinted brain theory readily explains.
If Selfish Genes Build Brains, Why Aren’t We All Solipsists?

If Selfish Genes Build Brains, Why Aren’t We All Solipsists?

Contrary to what you might think, the “selfish gene” paradigm does not imply that we should be self-centered to the point of believing that only we exist.
Mother’s Baby—Father’s Brain? Maybe!

Mother’s Baby—Father’s Brain? Maybe!

More paternal than maternal genes are expressed in the brains of mice, and the same could well be true of us if genetic conflict is the key.
Hyper-Mentalism, Hyper-Empathizing, and Supernatural Belief

Hyper-Mentalism, Hyper-Empathizing, and Supernatural Belief

Researchers reveal that the predictions of the diametric model are fulfilled where supernatural beliefs of various kinds are concerned.
Rigidity v Chaos: A Diametric Model of Brain Networks

Rigidity v Chaos: A Diametric Model of Brain Networks

A new schema of semantic networks in the hemispheres of the brain fits the diametric model perfectly.
Testosterone v Oxytocin: Bridging the Gene-Behaviour Gap

Testosterone v Oxytocin: Bridging the Gene-Behaviour Gap

Testosterone and oxytocin express the diametric opposition of genes that determine both mental illness and normality via their effects on the brain, mind, and behaviour.
Hyper-mentalism in Children Reporting Psychotic Experiences

Hyper-mentalism in Children Reporting Psychotic Experiences

Hyper-mentalism can be present in childhood as a new study reveals, but only the diametric model of mental illness reveals its positive aspects.
The Diametrics of Psychology Today

The Diametrics of Psychology Today

The diametric model suggests that psychology is divided up into folk and scientific, popular and official sub-types, with popular psychology being superior in some respects to its official counterpart.
The Plague of Modern, Mechanized, Multi-cultural Life

The Plague of Modern, Mechanized, Multi-cultural Life

Plagues, like mechanization, modernization, and multi-culturalism, isolate individuals in ways comparable to autism.
Robinson Crusoe: an Autistic Fantasy With Universal Appeal

Robinson Crusoe: an Autistic Fantasy With Universal Appeal

The sensational success of Robinson Crusoe lies in its perfect portrayal of the autistic fantasy of escape from the general Plague of Mankind.
Blindness and Schizophrenia: The Exception Proves the Rule

Blindness and Schizophrenia: The Exception Proves the Rule

The unexpected finding that protection against schizophrenia is conferred by congenital cortical but not peripheral blindness gives credence to the diametric model’s claim that hyper-mentalism is the core pathology in psychosis.
Life History, The Diametric Model, and Sex Scandals

Life History, The Diametric Model, and Sex Scandals

A new study reveals clear diametric associations between autistic v. psychotic traits and impulsivity, sensation seeking, and socio-sexual behavior.
The X Factor Explains Androgyny in Male Asperger’s

The X Factor Explains Androgyny in Male Asperger’s

Feminization in some male Asperger’s cases contradicts the extreme male brain theory but conforms to expectations of lingering maternal imprints on the X chromosome.
Birth Size Inversely Varies Risk of Autism v. Schizophrenia

Birth Size Inversely Varies Risk of Autism v. Schizophrenia

A study directly comparing autism and schizophrenia risks in a population of 5 million provides the first large-scale empirical test for the imprinted brain theory’s prediction that such risks co-vary inversely.
The Complex Cognitive Plane, and a New Measure of IQ

The Complex Cognitive Plane, and a New Measure of IQ

If complex numbers can be represented in two-dimensions, so can diametric cognitive configurations ranging from genius to retardation—not to mention measures of IQ.
Mentalizing à la Mode

Mentalizing à la Mode

We may be hard-wired for diametric cognition, but we are free to choose how we engage those anti-correlated networks.
Can You Be Both Mad and Creative?

Can You Be Both Mad and Creative?

Findings related to incidence of mental disorders among people of different professions fit the diametric model: but most of all poets, who are strikingly predisposed to bipolar disorder.
Cognitive Complexes: Everyone’s Hang-Up, Especially Sex

Cognitive Complexes: Everyone’s Hang-Up, Especially Sex

Society, like individuals, can suffer from costly complexes, but their true nature is only revealed by the diametric model of cognition.
High and Low: A Visualization of Diametric Genius

High and Low: A Visualization of Diametric Genius

Genius is the rare synthesis of diametrically opposite mentalistic, top-down, and mechanistic, bottom-up insight stunningly visualized in Escher’s High and Low.
Come Back, Homunculus—All Is Forgiven!

Come Back, Homunculus—All Is Forgiven!

An inner, observing self has been widely ridiculed as a model of consciousness, but the diametric view of cognition and the symptoms of both autism and psychosis argue strongly for it—along with some recent discoveries in neuroscience.
Linus Pauling Award Winner Discusses Imprinted Brain Theory

Linus Pauling Award Winner Discusses Imprinted Brain Theory

Leading authorities in epigenetics are beginning to see the far-reaching implications of the imprinted brain theory for their field.

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