The imprinted brain hypothesis is an unsubstantiated hypothesis in evolutionary psychology regarding the causes of autism spectrum and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, first presented by Bernard Crespi and Christopher Badcock in 2008. It claims that certain autistic and schizotypal traits are opposites, and that this implies the etiology of the two conditions must be at odds. The imprinted brain hypothesis is based around genomic imprinting, an epigenetic process through which genes are expressed differently by way of one parent's contribution having more effect than the other. Specifically, proponents of the imprinted brain hypothesis propose that autism spectrum disorders are caused by paternal overimprinting, while schizophrenia spectrum disorders are caused by maternal overimprinting; they point to a number of supposed correlations and anticorrelations seen between the disorders and other traits to support the hypothesis. While the hypothesis has found some attention in popular science, it lacks scientific backing. It has also been attacked as unfalsifiable, exaggerated, and overly broad. Specific issues for the hypothesis include that the predictions it makes about genetic disorders are falsified, that the effects of the two disorders on empathy and mentalizing are contrary to Crespi and Badcock's model, and that many neuroimaging findings fail to support the hypothesis. Genomic imprinting Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic process by which certain genes are expressed in a parent-of-origin-specific manner. The imprinted brain theory is a variant of the kinship theory of genomic imprinting, also known as the conflict theory of genomic imprinting. The kinship theory argues that in diploid organisms, such as humans, the maternal and paternal set of genes may have antagonistic reproductive interests since the mother and father may have antagonistic interests regarding the development of the child. The kinship theory is one of multiple competing major hypotheses regarding genomic imprinting and is supported by proponents of the imprinted brain hypothesis, but the precise matter of how genomic imprinting works has not yet been resolved. Hypothesis and background Proponents of the imprinted brain hypothesis argue that since it is uncertain if a woman's other and future children have and will have the same father, as well as the father generally having lower parental investment, it may be in the father's reproductive interest for his child to use more of the mother's resources than other children, while it may be in the mother's interest for a child to take fewer resources and free up more for herself and future