A study conducted at Yale found that in adults with autism or Asperger’s, the region of the brain activated during face processing corresponded to the region activated in nonautistic subjects during object processing. Autistic people with fixations, however, may recognize those in the area where most people register faces. So one autistic boy had the same region in his brain light up for his mother as for a teacup. But he was enthralled by Japanese Digimon characters, and when he saw those, the area where most of us process our intimate connections suddenly flashed on.
