Proprioception and cognitive polarization in autism: the bipolar tensile model

This article introduces the Bipolar Tensile Model, a neurosemiotic and integrative framework for understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The model reinterprets ASD not as a collection of deficits, but as the outcome of an unresolved tension between two complementary hemispheric cognitive modalities: symbolic-sequential and corporeal-perceptual. In typical development, these modalities are dynamically harmonized through an extended interhemispheric network, comprising the Default Mode Network, major cerebral commissures (corpus callosum, anterior and hippocampal), and the cerebellum. In ASD, the instability of this mediating system disrupts proprioceptive integration and generates polarized cognitive configurations, such as operational rigidity, sensory disorganization, and repetitive behaviors. Proprioception is understood not as a peripheral sensory channel, but as a semiotic regulator of interhemispheric coherence and embodied self-awareness. Drawing on a narrative synthesis of clinical, neuropsychological, and neurophysiological literature - and supported by representative clinical cases - the model highlights how interhemispheric disconnection and proprioceptive instability interact to shape atypical developmental patterns. It proposes compensatory adaptation, including local hyperconnectivity and symbolic overcompensation, as central mechanisms in the formation of ASD profiles. By integrating insights from semiotics, systems neuroscience, and embodied cognition, the Bipolar Tensile Model provides new perspectives on diagnosis, clinical interpretation, and individualized therapeutic approaches, with particular attention to the early identification of proprioceptive dysfunction and the design of integrative rehabilitation protocols.