Achievements

2020-2024

2024: Professor Baron-Cohen is made honorary fellow of Royal Society of Medicine

2023: The first evidence that autistic people have increased risk of physical health conditions across all 9 major organ systems in the body

2023: The first evidence that rare genetic variants are associated with autistic traits, as discovered in multiplex autism families

2023: Professor Baron-Cohen is awarded the Medical Research Council (MRC) Millennium Medal for his work into the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism and his contribution to autism research and the public understanding of neurodiversity

2023: The first evidence that postnatal depression is more common in autistic new mothers

2023: Confirming sex and gender differences in cognitive empathy in a large population across 57 countries

2023: Confirming the autistic brain is masculinised, using machine learning and structural MRI

2022: The first integration of rare and common genetic variants in autism

2022: The first large scale study of autistic people in the criminal justice system

2022: The first evidence of differences in brain response to oxytocin in autistic women in response to faces

2022: The first evidence that autistic people are more likely to die by suicide, using post-mortem coroner’s data

2021: The first study of substance use and misuse in autistic adults

2021: The first large population study of ethnic and socioeconomic differences in autism

2021: The first evidence that camouflaging in autism is associated with poor mental health

2021: The first evidence of autism as an extreme of the typical male pattern in the default mode network 

2021: A population study screening autism at 18 and 36 months of age

2021: The earliest evidence of atypical neurogenesis in autism, specifically atypical neural rosettes

2020: The first evidence of elevated rates of non-communicable physical health conditions in autism

2020: The first large scale study of elevated rates of transgenderism in autism

2020: Publication of The Pattern Seekers (Penguin Random House UK/Basic Books US). 

2020: The first evidence of elevated prenatal estrogens in autism

2015-2019 

2019: The first evidence of genetic overlap between autism and systemizing

2019: The first major prevalence study of autism in China

2019: The first evidence of vulnerability in autistic adults

2018: The first evidence that autistic women have higher rates of polycystic ovary syndrome

2018: A big data confirmation of the Empathizing-Systemizing and Extreme Male Brain theories of autism and typical sex differences

2017: First evidence of altered brain response to oxytocin in autistic women

2017: The first study of camouflaging in autism

2016: The first study of empathy and altruism ‘in the wild’

2016: The first evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy

2016: The first large scale evidence that autistic traits differ in those with working in STEM and between genders

2015: The first evidence demonstrating oxytocin increases eye-contact in autism

2015: The first evidence showing elevated prenatal sex steroid hormones in autism

2010-2014 

2014: Development of the Sensory and Perception Quotient (SPQ) and evidence of sensory hypersensitivity in autism

2014: The first evidence of ‘steroidopathy’ in autistic women

2014: The first meta-analysis of sex differences in the human brain

2014: The first large scale study of suicidality in autism

2013: The first evidence that the brain is ‘masculinized’ in autistic women

2013: The CLASS clinic moves into the newly created Chitra Sethia Autism Centre, Cambridgeshire. 

2013: The first evidence that girls with anorexia have higher levels of autistic traits

2013: The first evidence of differences in binocular rivalry in autism

2013: The first evidence of a sharper gradient of spatial attention in autism

2013: The first evidence of higher rates of synaesthesia in autism

2012: The first evidence to show associations between prenatal testosterone and regional gray matter volume in the human brain

2012: The first evidence that transmen have a higher number of autistic traits

2011: Development of the Short Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ-10) and its incorporation into the NICE Guidelines for screening for autism

2011: The first evidence that rates of autism are elevated in an IT-rich city (Eindhoven)

2011: Publication of Zero Degrees of Empathy (Penguin) 

2011: The first evidence finding elevated androstenedione in autism

2010: Publication of Autism and Asperger Syndrome: The Facts (OUP). 

2010: The first stratification of autistic traits in the population

2010: The first evidence that watching The Transporters leads to improved emotion recognition in autistic children

2010: The first evidence that prenatal testosterone levels are associated with the size of the corpus callosum

2010: The first evidence linking prenatal testosterone to autistic traits at 18 months of age

2009-2005 

2009: The first evidence linking prenatal testosterone to autistic traits in childhood

2009: The first study establishing the prevalence of autism as 1% of the population

2009: The first evidence that genes regulating prenatal sex steroids are associated with autism

2009: The first molecular genetic study of synaesthesia

2008: The first UK trial of Lego Therapy for autistic children

2008: The development of the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT)

2007: The first evidence of elevated rates of testosterone-related medical conditions in autistic women

2007: Creation of The Transporters to teach emotion recognition to autistic children (www.autismcentreofexcellence.org) 

2007: The first evidence that ‘brain type’ (EQ-SQ differences) predict entry into STEM vs non-STEM subjects

2006: The first evidence that prenatal testosterone levels are associated with empathy

2006: The first evidence that prenatal testosterone levels are associated with systemizing

2006: The first evidence that children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia have elevated autistic traits

2006: The assortative mating theory of autism is published

2005: The first evidence that prenatal testosterone levels are associated with narrow interests

2005: The EQ-SQ theory is published in Science

2000-2004 

2004: The Empathy Quotient (EQ) is published

2004: Publication of Prenatal Testosterone in Mind (MIT Press). 

2003: Publication of Mind Reading for teaching emotion recognition to autistic people (www.autismcentreofexcellence.org). 2003: The Systemizing Quotient (SQ) is published

2003: The first evidence that acquired brain damage to the amygdala impairs theory of mind

2003: Publication of The Essential Difference (Penguin). 

2002: The first evidence that V4 is active during coloured hearing synaesthesia

2002: The first evidence that prenatal testosterone levels are associated with language development

2002: The first evidence that prenatal testosterone levels are associated with social development

2002: The ‘extreme male brain’ (EMB) theory of autism is proposed

2002: Prevalence of Asperger Syndrome in childhood reported as 1 in 166

2002: The first evidence that amygdala damage impairs theory of mind

2001: The first measure of autistic traits: the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and the link between mathematical talent and AQ

2001: The first demonstration of superior visual search in autistic children

2001: Creation of the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes ‘Test – Revised. This test was recommended by NIH as a core metric for dimensionalising social cognition

2000: Creation of the first clinic for the diagnosis of autism in adults in the UK (the Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service (CLASS) clinic). 2000: The first demonstration of innate interest in another person’s eyes

2000: The first evidence for innate sex differences in neonates

2000: The amygdala theory of autism is proposed

2000: The first discussion of whether autism is necessarily at disability

1995-1999 

1999: The first test of the brain basis of superior attention to detail in autism

1999: The first evidence of amygdala differences in autism, and the first test of the brain basis of theory of mind in autism

1999: The first prevalence study of Gilles de la Tourette in autism

1998: The first evidence of the role of the orbito-frontal and medial frontal cortex in theory of mind demonstrated

1998: The first demonstration of superior attention to detail in autistic adults

1997: Publication of Teaching children with autism to mind-read (Wiley). 

1997: The first report linking autism to parents who are high ‘systemizers’

1997: The ‘language of the eyes’ coined

1997: The first report of the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test

1997: The first proposal of the extreme male brain theory of autism

1997: The first test of the broader autism phenotype in parents of autistic children

1997: The first test of whether language delay in autism is the result of not using gaze processing

1996: The first test of whether theory of mind could be taught to autistic children

1996: The first large population study of the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT)

1996: The first prevalence study of synaesthesia and the first demonstration that synaesthesia runs in families

1995: The first study of the brain basis of synaesthesia

1995: Publication of the first edition of Mindblindness (MIT Press). 

1985-1994 

1994: The first report of the brain basis of theory of mind and the discovery of the role of the orbito-frontal cortex (OFC) in this

1994: The formulation of the Mindreading System, as a model of how ‘theory of mind’ develops in a typical child

1993: Publication of the first edition of Understanding Other Minds (OUP). 

1992: The first demonstration that autism could be diagnosed at 18 months old, the development of the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT), and the first ‘baby siblings’ study of genetic high likelihood of autism

1990: The term ‘mindblindness’ was coined, in relation to autism

1987: The first empirical study of synaesthesia in contemporary psychology, and the creation of the ‘Test of Genuineness’ of synaesthesia, which opened up the field of synaesthesia research after it had been dormant for over 80 years as was deemed unscientific

1985: The first test of the ‘theory of mind’ (ToM) hypothesis of autism