At a purely scientific level, yeast will begin to autolyze as the culture enters the stationary phase. When culturing microbes, there is a lag phase, an exponential growth phase followed by a stationary phase. The brewing equivalent of stationary phase is at the end of active fermentation, typically when the krausen falls (which can be as short as 3 or 4 days for a low OG beer with a fast yeast). At this point, autolysis is taking place - scientific fact.
In my opinion, if there are enough yeast in suspension to carbonate a beer, then that is enough yeast to clean up any undesireable byproducts. If fermentation is complete, then bottle/keg it and let it age further there as needed/desired. I see no need to leave it on the cake for a longer period. If someone wants to leave it on the cake longer that is fine too. It's your beer.
Like the wine example, it is a balance. I think to get STRONG flavors from autolysis, the beer has to be poorly handled, and mostly likely the nasty flavors come from other microbes dining on the lysed yeast (all our beers have a few non-yeast microbes in them). I do feel that in a properly handled beer, leaving the beer sur lie will impart some flavor to the beer. Depending on the beer style, it might be totally covered up by other flavors. It will be more obvious in lighter/simpler styles. Add to that personal preference. Some folks are more sensitive to it, some don't care, some like it.
