On the basis of recent research in sociology of science, moral development theory and cultural psychology, the authors argue that scientific knowledge consists of producing new social practices coordinated by scientific texts. A quantitative means of highlighting this process in a given field of research consists of calculating associations between centres of interest in scientific articles, through key words provided by computerized databases. If the concept of scientific culture is taken into account, the `sociocognitive' network of associations which is obtained is thus a structure linking the relationships of the human individual to his or her culture. Using the PSYCLIT database from 1978 to 1995, this approach produces a history and a synthesis of contemporary research into autism, and also describes the emergence of a new `distributed' paradigm of research. The sociocognitive network model is thus validated as a system of representation and simultaneously demonstrates the identity of the human individual with knowledge of the world through its scientific and technical culture.
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