Uta Frith

Uta Aurnhammer was born in Rockenhausen, a small town in the hills between Luxembourg and Mannheim in Germany. She attended Saarland University in Saarbrücken with her initial plan for her education being in art history, but changed to experimental psychology after learning of its empirical nature.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/audio/neuroscience/frith |title=Professor Uta Frith |publisher=University College London |date=25 May 1941 |access-date=10 June 2015 |archive-date=29 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529080334/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/audio/neuroscience/frith |url-status=dead }} She was inspired by the work of psychologist, Hans Eysenck (who debunked psychoanalysis){{Cite book |last=Eysenck |first=Hans |title=Sense and Nonsense in Psychology |publisher=Pelican Books |year=1957 |isbn=9780140203851 |location=United Kingdom}} and decided to train in clinical psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. While at the institute, she was taught by Jack Rachman, one of the pioneers of behaviour therapy. She went on to complete her Doctor of Philosophy, on pattern detection in autistic children, in 1968.{{Cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Uta |last=Frith |title=Pattern detection in children with and without autism |publisher=Institute of Psychiatry, London |year=1968 |url=http://catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/record=b1607113 |oclc=728381460}}{{Cite journal |doi=10.1037/h0020133 |last1=Frith |first1=Uta |title=Studies in pattern detection in normal and autistic children. I. Immediate recall of auditory sequences |journal=Journal of Abnormal Psychology |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=413–420 |year=1970 |pmid=5490707}}{{Cite journal |last=Frith |first=U. |title=Studies in pattern detection in normal and autistic children |journal=Journal of Experimental Child Psychology |year=1970 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=120–135 |doi=10.1016/0022-0965(70)90049-4 |pmid=5459646}}{{Cite journal |last=Bishop |first=D. V. M. |title=Forty years on: Uta Frith's contribution to research on autism and dyslexia, 1966–2006 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology |year=2008 |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=16–26 |doi=10.1080/17470210701508665 |pmid=18038335 |pmc=2409181}}[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/audio/neuroscience/frith Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529080334/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/audio/neuroscience/frith |date=29 May 2018 }}, University College London. Retrieved 10 June 2015.

Frith was mentored, during her early career, by Neil O'Connor and Beate Hermelin and has described them as pioneers in the field of autism.{{Cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/utafrith/looking-back- |title=Looking back: My mentors Beate Hermelin and Neil O'Connor |access-date=10 June 2015 |archive-date=15 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215164311/https://sites.google.com/site/utafrith/looking-back- |url-status=dead }}

Frith's research paved the way for the recognition of a theory of mind deficit in autism.{{Cite web |last=Askham, A. V. |date=2022 |title='Theory of mind' in autism: A research field reborn. |url=https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/theory-of-mind-in-autism-a-research-field-reborn/}} In 1985, while she was a member of the Medical Research Council's Cognitive Development Unit (MRC-CDU) in London, she published with Alan M. Leslie and Simon Baron-Cohen the article "Does the autistic child have a 'theory of mind'?",{{Cite journal |last1=Baron-Cohen |first1=Simon |last2=Leslie |first2=Alan M. |last3=Frith |first3=Uta |author-link1=Simon Baron-Cohen |author-link2=Alan M. Leslie |title=Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"? |journal=Cognition |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=37–46 |doi=10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8 |pmid=2934210 |date=October 1985 |s2cid=14955234}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20170928145836/http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/images/personal-alan-leslie/publications/Baron-Cohen%20Leslie%20%26%20Frith%201985.pdf Pdf]. which proposed that people with autism have specific difficulties understanding other people's beliefs and desires. This paper used a false-belief task invented by Joseph Perner in 1983. Frith, and her colleagues,{{Cite web |title=Uta Frith |url=https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/observer/25at25/uta-frith.html |access-date=2020-04-24 |website=Association for Psychological Science - APS}} created two theories of autism. The first is "lack of implicit mentalizing",{{Cite journal |last=Frith, U. |date=2012 |title=Why we need cognitive explanations of autism. |journal=Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology |volume=65 |issue=11 |pages=2073–2092|doi=10.1080/17470218.2012.697178 |pmid=22906000 |s2cid=46644086 }} a lack of the ability to track others' mental state with a basis in the brain.{{Cite journal |last=Frith, C.D. and Frith, U |date=2006 |title=The neural basis of mentalizing. |journal=Neuron |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=531–534|doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2006.05.001 |pmid=16701204 |s2cid=16198411 |doi-access=free }} The second is "weak central coherence"{{Cite book |last=Frith |first=Uta |title=Autism. A Very Short Introduction |publisher=OUP Oxford |year=2008 |isbn=9780199207565 |chapter=Weak central coherence (p. 90 ff.) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j40SDAAAQBAJ&q=%22weak+central+coherence%22&pg=PA90}} by which she suggested that individuals with autism are better than neurotypical people at processing details, but worse at integrating information from many different sources.{{Cite journal |last1=Happé |first1=F. |last2=Frith |first2=U. |author-link1=Francesca Happé |doi=10.1007/s10803-005-0039-0 |title=The Weak Coherence Account: Detail-focused Cognitive Style in Autism Spectrum Disorders |journal=Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=5–25 |year=2006 |pmid=16450045|s2cid=14999943}} Frith was one of the first neuroscientists to recognize autism "as a condition of the brain rather than the result of cold parenting."{{Cite news |last=Kellaway |first=Kate |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/feb/24/uta-frith-autism-neuroscience-rational |title=Uta Frith: 'The brain is not a pudding; it is an engine' |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=17 February 2013 |access-date=5 April 2013}}

She was one of the first people in the UK to study Asperger syndrome,Uta Frith (1991),{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20181027092042/http://4gp.me/bbtc/1540631889207.pdf "Asperger and his syndrome"]}}. Uta Frith, ed., Autism and Asperger syndrome, pp. 1–36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|9780521386081}} at MRC-CDU London. Her work also focused on reading development, spelling and dyslexia. Frith attacked the theory that dyslexia was linked to lack of intelligence{{Cite journal |last=Frith, U. |date=1999 |title=Paradoxes in the definition of dyslexia . |journal=Dyslexia|volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=192–214|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1099-0909(199912)5:4<192::AID-DYS144>3.0.CO;2-N }} or caused by sensorimotor impairments.{{Cite journal |last=White, S., Milne, E., Rosen., Hansen,P., Swettenham, J., Frith, U. and Ramus, F. |date=2006 |title=The role of sensorimotor impairments in dyslexia: a multiple case study of dyslexic children |journal=Developmental Science |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=237–255|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00483.x |pmid=16669791 }} In her book on spelling, she pointed out that some people can be perfectly competent readers, but extremely poor spellers, a group of dyslexics not recognised before. Her research, along with that of Maggie Snowling, showed that people with dyslexia tend to struggle with phonological processing.{{Cite journal |last1=Frith |first1=Uta |last2=Snowling |first2=Maggie |date=23 November 2007 |title=Reading for meaning and reading for sound in autistic and dyslexic children |journal=British Journal of Developmental Psychology |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=329–342 |doi=10.1111/j.2044-835x.1983.tb00906.x |issn=0261-510X}} In 1995 Frith, Paulesu, Snowling and colleagues conducted one of the first brain imaging studies with dyslexic adults showing that, while completing tasks requiring phonological processing, people with dyslexia show a lack of functional connectivity within the language network of the brain.{{Cite journal |last=Paulesu, E., Frith, U., Snowling, M., Gallagher, A., Morris, J., Frackowiak, R. and Frith, C.D. |date=1995 |title=Is developmental dyslexia a disconnection syndrome? Evidence from PET scanning. |journal=Brain |volume=119 |pages=143–158|doi=10.1093/brain/119.1.143 |pmid=8624677 }}

Frith has been supported throughout her career by the Medical Research Council at University College London.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/staff/staff-news/10072013-spotlightonutafrith |title=Spotlight on Uta Frith |date=2013-07-10}} She was an active collaborator at the Interacting Minds Centre{{Cite web |url=http://interactingminds.au.dk/ |title=interactingminds.au.dk |website=interactingminds.au.dk}} at Aarhus University in Denmark. The goal of the centre is to provide a trans-disciplinary platform, upon which the many aspects of human interaction may be studied. The project is based in part on a paper written with Chris Frith: "Interacting Minds – a Biological Basis".{{Cite journal |last=Frith |first=C.D. |author2=Frith, U. |title=Interacting minds—a biological basis |journal=Science |date=26 November 1999 |volume=286 |issue=5445 |pages=1692–1695 |pmid=10576727 |doi=10.1126/science.286.5445.1692}}

Among students she has mentored are Tony Attwood,{{Cite web |url=http://www.tonyattwood.com.au |title=Tony Attwood personal website |access-date=10 June 2015}} Maggie Snowling,{{Cite web |url=https://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/people/professor-maggie-snowling/ |title=Professor Maggie Snowling |website=St John's College}} Simon Baron-Cohen{{Cite web |url=http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?sb205 |title=Simon Baron-Cohen University of Cambridge staff profile |access-date=10 June 2015}} and Francesca Happé.{{Cite web |url=http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/staff/profile/default.aspx?go=10942 |title=Francesca Happé IOP staff profile |access-date=10 June 2015}}

Frith has encouraged the advancement of women in science, in part by developing a support network called Science & Shopping,{{Cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/scienceandshopping/ |title=Science&shopping |website=sites.google.com}} which she hopes will "encourage women to share ideas and information that are inspiring and fun."{{Cite podcast |url=http://tokenskeptic.org/2012/10/28/episode-one-hundred-and-forty-two-on-women-in-science-and-wikipedia-interview-with-professor-uta-frith |title=#142 – On Women in Science and Wikipedia |publisher=tokenskeptic.org |host=Kylie Sturgess |date=28 October 2012}} She also co-founded the UCL Women{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/equality-networks-ucl|title=Equality networks at UCL|date=21 August 2019|website=Work at UCL}} network, "a grassroots networking and social organization for academic staff (postdocs and above) in STEM at UCL", in January 2013.{{Cite web |url=http://uclwomen.org |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130726113440/http://uclwomen.org/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=26 July 2013 |title=UCL Women |access-date=10 June 2015}} In 2015 she was named chair of the Royal Society's Diversity Committee,{{Cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/utafrith/ |title=Uta Frith |website=sites.google.com |access-date=2017-10-01}} during which time she wrote about unconscious bias and how it affects which scientists receive grants.{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.royalsociety.org/in-verba/2015/11/17/implicit-and-unconscious-the-bias-in-us-all/ |title=Implicit and unconscious, the bias in us all {{!}} In Verba {{!}} Royal Society |website=blogs.royalsociety.org|access-date=2017-10-01}}

On 11 May 2012 Frith appeared as a guest on the American PBS Charlie Rose television interview show.{{Cite web |title=Autism - Charlie Rose |url=https://charlierose.com/videos/15078 |publisher=charlierose.com |date=11 May 2012 |access-date=26 November 2023}} On 4 December she appeared as a guest on the "Brain" episode of BBC Two's Dara Ó Briain's Science Club.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0124k6t |title=Professor Uta Frith on BBC2 Dara O Briain's Science Club |publisher=BBC |year=2012 |access-date=4 December 2012}}

On 1 March 2013, she was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bps.org.uk/news/professor-uta-frith-bbc-radio-4s-desert-island |title=Professor Uta Frith on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs |publisher=bps.org.uk |year=2013 |access-date=5 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022020002/http://www.bps.org.uk/news/professor-uta-frith-bbc-radio-4s-desert-island |archive-date=22 October 2013}} In 2013 Frith wrote on the visibility of women in science, by promoting an exhibition on female scientist portraits at The Royal Society.{{Cite news |last1=Frith |first1=Uta |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/jul/01/invisible-women-science-royal-society |title=Invisible women of science – now appearing at the Royal Society |date=1 July 2013 |work=The Guardian |access-date=1 June 2014}}

From 31 March to 4 April 2014, to coincide with World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April, she was the guest of Sarah Walker on BBC Radio 3's Essential Classics.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03z9jxc |title=BBC Radio 3 – Essential Classics, Monday – Sarah Walker with Uta Frith |publisher=BBC |access-date=10 June 2015}} On 1 April 2014, she featured in "Living with Autism", an episode of the BBC Horizon documentary series.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0404861 |title=Living with Autism |publisher=BBC |year=2014 |access-date=10 June 2015}} On 26 August 2015, she presented the Horizon episode entitled "OCD: A Monster in my Mind".{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06874cc |publisher=BBC |title=OCD: A Monster in my Mind}} On 29 August 2017, she presented the Horizon episode entitled "What Makes a Psychopath?".{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b093tmt7 |publisher=BBC |title=What Makes a Psychopath?}}

On 13 December 2017, she gave an interview to the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health,{{Cite web|url=https://www.acamh.org/|title=The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)|website=ACAMH}} in which she talked about her early life and her passion for autism research in children.

Frith was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2001, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2001, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2005, an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society in 2006, an Honorary Fellow of University College London in 2007, a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2008, an Honorary Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge in 2008, a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://cfin.au.dk/da/news-events/news/translate-to-dansk-show/artikel/uta-frith-elected-member-of-embo|title=Uta Frith elected member of EMBO|date=14 May 2014|website=cfin.au.dk}} She was President of the Experimental Psychology Society in 2006 and 2007.{{Cite web|url=https://eps.ac.uk/previous-committee-members/|title=Previous Committee Officers|date=17 October 2017|website=Experimental Psychology Society}} Frith also received a honorary doctorate from the University of Bath.

In 2009, Frith and her husband, Chris, jointly received the European Latsis Prize for their contribution to understanding the human mind and brain,{{Cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0911/09111901 |title=Professors Chris and Uta Frith win European Latsis Prize |access-date=10 June 2015 |date=2009-11-19}} and in 2010 she was awarded the Mind & Brain Prize.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mentecervello.it/home/node/53 |title=Mind & Brain Prize - Mente e Cervello |website=mentecervello.it |access-date=1 June 2018}} She received a William James Fellow Award in 2013. In 2014, she and her husband won the Jean Nicod Prize, for their work on social cognition.{{Cite web |url=http://www.institutnicod.org/seminaires-colloques/conferences-et-prix-jean-nicod/conferences-jean-nicod-2014/article/prix-et-conferences-jean-nicod-1169?lang=en |title=2014 Jean Nicod Prize |publisher=Institut Nicod}}

In 2012, Frith became an Honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), which was made substantive on 4 April 2019{{Cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3895449 |title=Honours and Awards | The Gazette |website=thegazette.co.uk}} after the German Government permitted dual British/German nationality.{{Cite web|url=https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/citizenship/retention-of-citizenship/2451414|title=Retention of German citizenship upon naturalisation in another country|first=Auswärtiges|last=Amt|website=uk.diplo.de}} This allowed her to be called Dame Uta. In 2015, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-34745739 |title=BBC 100 Women 2015: Who is on the list? |date=17 November 2015 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=3 August 2019}}

Frith married Chris Frith in 1966.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.open.ac.uk/openlearn/CHIPs/data/accessibility/nodes/192.html|title=Investigating Psychology: CHIPs|website=www2.open.ac.uk}} He is now professor emeritus at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London. In 2008 a double portrait was painted by Emma Wesley.{{Cite web |url=https://emma-wesley.co.uk/artwork/3930928-The-Neuroscientists-Portrait-of-Chris-and-Uta-Frith.html |title=The Neuroscientists: Portrait of Chris and Uta Frith |website=emma-wesley.co.uk}} They have two sons.{{Cite web |url=https://www2.open.ac.uk/openlearn/CHIPs/data/accessibility/nodes/192.html |title=Investigating Psychology: CHIPs |website=www2.open.ac.uk}} Working with their son Alex Frith and illustrator Daniel Locke, Frith and her husband produced the graphic novel 'Two Heads: Where Two Neuroscientists Explore How Our Brains Work with Other Brains'{{Cite book |last=Frith |first=Uta |title=Two Heads: Where two neuroscientists explore how our brains work with other brains |last2=Frith |first2=Alex |last3=Frith |first3=Christopher D. |last4=Locke |first4=Daniel |date=2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |isbn=978-1-5266-0155-1 |location=London Oxford New York}} in 2022. This combined an introduction to neuroscience and social cognition, with their own personal and professional experiences throughout their careers.{{Cite web |title=Frithmind |url=https://frithmind.org/two-heads/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |language=en-US}}

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{{Scholia|author}}

• {{official website}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150620133227/http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/Research-Groups/Developmental-Group/ Profile], ICN Developmental Group
• [https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=UFRIT79 Profile], UCL IRIS (Institutional Research Information Service)
• [http://www.in-cites.com/scientists/UtaFrith.html Interview with Uta Frith] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517042027/http://www.in-cites.com/scientists/UtaFrith.html |date=17 May 2008 }}
• [http://www.ideasroadshow.com/issues/uta-frith-2013-03-29 "Exploring Autism – A conversation with Uta Frith"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111224152/https://www.ideasroadshow.com/issues/uta-frith-2013-03-29 |date=11 November 2020 }}, Ideas Roadshow (29 March 2013)
• [http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/blog/2014/guest-blog-london-as-a-crucible-for-autism-in-the-1950s A historical look at the transition from "mentally defective" etc. to autism, August 2014, by Uta Frith]
• {{Cite news |last=Frith |first=Uta |title=Autism - are we any closer to explaining the enigma? |url=https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-27/edition-10/autism-are-we-any-closer-explaining-enigma |work=The Psychologist |publisher=British Psychological Society |date=October 2014 |volume=27 |pages=744–745 |archive-date=15 March 2023 |access-date=3 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315141155/https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-27/edition-10/autism-are-we-any-closer-explaining-enigma |url-status=dead }}

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{{Evolutionary psychologists}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1941 births

Category:Academics of University College London

Category:Alumni of King's College London

Category:Autism researchers

Category:British women psychologists

Category:British developmental psychologists

Category:Dyslexia researchers

Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)

Category:Fellows of the British Academy

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Female fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences

Category:German emigrants to the United Kingdom

Category:German expatriates in England

Category:German women psychologists

Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Honorary Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge

Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom