Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show neural and behavioral differences compared to neurotypicals (NT), yet the computational principles driving these differences are not clear. Our study suggests that changes to how responsive is the system to input signal (a basic property of any information processing system) can explain a wide range of phenomena seen in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Our view defies previous descriptions of ASD as a "broken cog in the machine" but rather suggests that ASD lies along a natural trade-off between accurate encoding and fast adaptation to change. In doing so it provides a deeper, richer account of the computational basis of autism spectrum disorder.