Autism @lemmy.world nyoooom @lemmy.world 1y ago

[Theory] Neurodivergences = cat brain?

I've started to notice for a while now that cats fit a lot of the neurodivergents traits like ASD and ADHD:

Neophobe (they love routine and hate changes)
Easily overstimulated
Hate being told what to do
Eat the same food everyday and be happy with it
Can be lovely with close ones but very shy/anxious with strangers
Very involved in stuff they like (playing), very lazy for stuff that doesn't interest them
Easily distracted
Sleep a lot
Can have shutdowns or meltdowns in stressful situations

Seeing all those patterns, I'm starting to think that maybe neurodivergent people's brains have some structure which is closer to a feline brain, and that could explain some of these similar behaviors.

It's really just some random thoughts, but it seems to match a lot and cats and humans are not that far away in the tree of evolution 🤔

22 comments

There is even a book about it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Cats-Are-Autism-Spectrum/dp/1787754715
- Oh nice, I thought a lot about it but didn't really research the topic, thanks for the link!
I think you're anthropomorphising a bit too much
- I think you don't understand cats. They absolutely have very different traits. My husband works with people with disabilities and he has nicknamed our cats with the behavioral traits we show. My favorite cat is nicknamed ADHD. My oldest cat is Agoraphobia. Another one is Narcissist. With just those three, it can be proven that cats all have unique personalities just like we do.
  
  They do have personalities which is why I think it's wrong to cling to one and say we have cat brains. My old cat was a curmudgeon and so was my grandpa, must be cat brain
  
  [Edit] I don't mean to be dismissive, I was just trying to explain why I think it's a stretch.
Most behaviors in mammals can be seen in other mammals (and in even less related species). Don't read too much into it.

I'm an introvert and easily overstimulated, so I like:

sitting still and relaxing

soaking up some sun in a window seat

the sound of wind and silence

water

Is my brain part tree? (No, these are just qualities/behaviors easy to find in another living thing, and my brain is searching for a pattern.)

Interesting observation, but it's a bit extreme and fantastical that some shared behaviors would suggest neurodivergent humans have an evolutionary link to cats.
- Haha good point (maybe I'm a plant tho...)
  
  I'm always trying to explain human, and living beings behaviors based on evolution, and what environmental or social pressure made a species evolve the way it did.
  
  That's why I'm "guessing" that that group of behaviors is probably older than when humans and cats branched out, and that maybe the human branch evolved with a different brain structure, but we still have some remnants of that.
  
  I mean we do have the dive reflex which probably comes from when we were still ocean creatures.
  
  That's fair, and same when it comes to trying to explain behaviors evolutionarily (though some are definitely just random, too, since if a characteristic doesn't actually directly cause an early death/fewer reproductive years, evolution will never affect it). Such guesses just get further from reality as they get more specific. So it would make sense and likely be accurate to say there is an evolutionary explanation for the behaviors that we demonstrate to divergent levels, but it becomes a bit more strained to say that that evolutionary explanation has to do with neurodivergent people being more closely connected to cats than neurotypical people.
Yeah but if you ever get a cat on your couch for analysis all it tells you is meow. Tough cookie
- Cookie! 🍪
Shit and here we thought it was vaccins that caused it, turns out its just cats assimilating us to serve them better.
- Those damn catgirls
There is no proof yet i totally believe this 🐈
- 💀
I do agree that cats and autistic people have a lot in common - I have no proof but from my immediate circle it seems like we're more likely to be cat people. I gotta disagree on sleeping a lot though bc I've had insomnia my whole life and I thought that it was common among autistics?
- I sleep 10-12 hours a day (pls help me)
- I should have put "sleepy" instead
I for sure get along perfectly with cats.
I always knew I was a catboy.

As an ADHD person, I can confirm I have made exactly the same observations.
It's certainly a theory... I'm autistic and have two cats and I always say that all cats are autistic and opportunistic!
I think it's more "carnivore brain"

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