Can someone explain pattern recognition more?

[star.stuff]

Hi All,

I am currently researching everything I can about ASD, as I believe I am living with it. I am trying to get an appointment to get tested, but in the meantime I'm hoping someone can answer this question for me:

What does it mean when the literature on ASD states, "people with autism are likely to have high pattern recognition?"

I'm not sure exactly what to make of this. I see faces and pictures in almost everything - for example, if I am looking at a marble countertop I can "see" faces and other objects in the swirls of the marble. I also like to look at groups of numbers and see how they could be related. For example, if I see a group of numbers "9369" I will think to myself "they are all multiples of 3." I thought everyone did things like this. Is this what it means to recognize patterns? Or is it something else completely?

Thank you in advance for any insight!

 

[tree]

Discerning faces is called pareidolia.
Example: My mother noticed faces in black walnut shells
and then made little owl decorations from them...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

 

[Mattymatt]

High pattern recognition is something that I have. It means that in a series of seemingly like shapes and colors, I can fairly easily distinguish something that doesn't match. It also means that I can see a semblence of one object in another. That would be the closest explanation that I could offer.

 

[DesertRose]

.... I see faces and pictures in almost everything - for example, if I am looking at a marble countertop I can "see" faces and other objects in the swirls of the marble....

I do that too. Marble, woodgrain, textured wall paint, just about anything with a texture or grain. I see faces, whole animals, different things.

 

[tree]

In psychology and cognitive neuroscience, pattern recognition describes a cognitive process that matches information from a stimulus with information retrieved from memory.

Pattern recognition occurs when information from the environment is received and entered into short-term memory, causing automatic activation of a specific content of long-term memory. An early example of this is learning the alphabet in order. When a carer repeats ‘A, B, C’ multiple times to a child, utilizing the pattern recognition, the child says ‘C’ after he/she hears ‘A, B’ in order.

Recognizing patterns allow us to predict and expect what is coming. The process of pattern recognition involves matching the information received with the information already stored in the brain. Making the connection between memories and information perceived is a step of pattern recognition called identification.

Pattern recognition requires repetition of experience.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition_(psychology)
Several theories are summarized in the article at the link above.