Some studies have refuted the detail focus of people on the spectrum, finding a normal ability to perceive things in a holistic, global way, especially when instructed to. Not everyone is convinced that weak central coherence in perceiving and thinking accounts for the limited ability of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder to see the “big picture.” Counter-Arguments of Weak Central Coherence
Where someone without Autism Spectrum Disorder would see a car, for example, an Autism Spectrum Disorder adult sees a steering wheel, tires and shiny paint, hears engine noise and smells exhaust, experiencing pieces rather than the whole.
In tests of understanding and interpreting spoken and written language, adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder tend to do relatively poorly at interpreting objects, people and surroundings as pieces of a larger situation. Indeed, research shows that parents, especially fathers, of male offspring who have Autism Spectrum Disorder have a similar tendency for detail-focused processing.Īdults with Autism Spectrum Disorder have also been shown to identify the parts of designs or figures and notice hidden shapes in drawings, faster than non-Autism Spectrum Disorder adults. Given the incomplete sentence, “You can go hunting with a knife and…” people with strong central coherence might answer, “catch a wild boar.” Those with weak coherence might answer, “a fork.” Evidence For Weak Coherence in Autism Spectrum DisorderĪutism Spectrum Disorder has a strong genetic component, and one way to verify the concept of central coherence is to see whether close relatives share general ways of thinking and perceiving. Put simply, people with Autism Spectrum Disorder are relatively better at seeing parts but not wholes.Ī simple test of central coherence best explains this concept. a forest, whereas picking out extreme detail embedded in a mass of information, e.g. Those with “weak central coherence” have difficulty inferring the larger meaning from many details, e.g.
Firth used the idea of central coherence to explain both the deficits and strengths of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder tend to be good at focusing on extreme details, and so are able to pick up small, seemingly insignificant components of a larger grouping of data or objects.ĭr. Generally speaking, there is a continuum of central coherence in the general population, from strong coherence (ability to see the larger whole) to weak coherence (a focus on, and memory for, detail and information in its exact representation).Īutism Spectrum Disorder is a condition characterized not only by social and communication difficulties by also a preference for sameness, attention to details, and oftentimes remarkable ability in areas such as music, memory or calculations. People with strong central coherence looking at a large group of trees see a forest, whereas those with weak central coherence see only an assortment of individual trees. The term “ central coherence” describes a person’s ability to determine meaning from a collection of details. What causes Autism Spectrum Disorder in adults? Several explanations exist, one being the central coherence theory, first proposed in 1989 by Uta Firth, a pioneer in the study of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Difficulty seeing the big picture and a preference for detail is characteristic of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
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