Seeing the Big Picture (Central Coherence) “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” The invisible relationships between the parts (how they relate together) provide more meaning to the collection of parts alone. Central coherence is the brain’s ability to see the invisible relationships between the parts, which give an overall meaning to the whole. The brains of neurotypical (NT) people have a natural ability to seek out overall meaning when looking at an array of details. We seek overall “meaning” immediately when viewing detail. We immediately search for invisible relationships that provide meaning to the details. When looking at something, our brains scan for a few important details to grasp the big picture. From the first impression, we then tend to use the overall picture to provide the backdrop for defining the individual details. Our brains seek out meaning first, then detail second. We tend to think from general to specific. This is what happens when we immediately see a smiling face out of two dots with a half moon under it. Or, when we quickly skim written material, missing misspelled words, and reading the meaning without paying attention to the individual words. This also allows us to read the invisible context that provides meaning to how we interpret what people are saying and doing. We often “infer” meaning quickly when faced with a few details. From there, we go on to interpret all other details by the initial interpretation we assume. For many people on the spectrum, their brains tend to work the opposite. Their brains focus on the detail, and not the overall picture. They struggle to see the invisible relationships between the parts, and have to search for overall meaning by piecing together the details. They are more acutely aware of the fine detail, and do not immediately get pulled into seeing the relationships (hidden meaning) between the parts. They first scan the many details and then put them together to form the overall meaning. They tend to think specific to general rather than general to specific. They see the parts literally, with less bias, and then piece the parts together to form the overall picture. This difference in processing provides the person with autism many unique strengths as well as weaknesses. They have a much more concise, concrete, literal interpretation of what they perceive. They are very strong detailed thinkers, can perceive detail with minimal bias, and pick out imperfections among the detail. They also can acutely perceive the physical relationships (physical patterns) between the details. They often are superior in perceiving sensory patterns (e.g. visual and auditory patterns) that we may not attend to. For tasks requiring extreme acuity to detail (e.g. engineering) their processing is very strong. Also, there fine attention to sensory patterns can be valuable in arts and music. However, as we will see later, when it comes to interacting and relating, this weak ability to rapidly interpret the overall picture (central coherence) can leave them struggling. Qualities of Weak Central Coherence 1. Problems Seeing the Big Picture a. Good with detail, not global perception. b. Difficulty seeing invisible relationships between the parts. c. For us, whole is more than the sum of its parts. For ASD, whole is the sum of its parts. 2. Concrete Thinkers a. Difficulty reading context. b. Takes things literally. c. Doesn’t quite get it! Doesn’t see the big picture. 3. Misinterprets & Misjudges a. Troubles extracting overall meaning of event. b. Difficulty with multiple meanings. c. Cannot read between the lines. d. Often misinterprets and then acts out of context. It is very important to keep in mind the difficulty people on the spectrum have in understanding the invisible cues, relationships, and context that provide meaning to much of what we interpret. This is why we cannot “assume”, provide information very literally, and clarify then verify understanding. Do not assume! This series on “cognitive issues” can be found in the blue book, “Autism Discussion Page on the Core Challenges in Autism.”
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 23:14:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015