Autism: the "supercharged brain"

I read two good articles on autism and was interested in sharing them. The first is very comprehensive and was spawned by a theory developed by a Swiss research team. Initially I was confused as to why children with autism who were found to typically have an enlarged amygdala (sector of the brain controlling emotion) were not as a result more adept at experiencing empathy and comprehending theory of mind or the emotions of others. This surprise, however stemmed from the false yet automatic belief that something which is bigger potentially functions better. Wrong... I quickly realized, with the help of the article, is that the pronounced amygdala would exaggerate the feelings that already exist. This explains the apparent hyper-perception of individuals with autism, or at least the sense of feeling too much that I perceived in the children with whom I worked.

It's similar to how children with autism generally hear things at high frequencies and much louder than most people - hearing is not like emotion, sure, but the perception is equally exaggerated.