Central coherence?

[Au Naturel]

I am thinking that the central coherence theory doesn't cohere. What I have read of it comes down to not being able to piece together a working theory from clues. That may be true for some autistic people but it is also true for some NTs. I wouldn't want to make that a general theory for autism.

Another place described it as seeing a bunch of trees but not being able to generalize it as a forest. So consumed by details one fails to grasp the bigger picture. That's another issue that NTs share. It is so common there is a saying about it; "can't see the forest for the trees."

If they were to narrow that theory down to specifically social matters, I might take it more seriously. There are some very brilliant autistic scientists who clearly don't have central coherence issues.

 

[SDRSpark]

I just read this: Weak central coherence theory - Wikipedia.
It doesn't doesn't apply to me.

It seems more like a theory made up by an "outsider", trying to apply concepts they already had in an inappropriate context. But it's hard to disprove, so the theory is still around.

FWIW my personal process for establishing and updating my "big picture" is unlike an NT's.
That suggests the "Central Coherence" concept may have some value for people on the spectrum, but IMO the information in the wikipedia article indicates suggests it's more likely to be a possible symptom than a root cause.

I followed that link because I had no idea what "central coherence" was - it makes a lot of sense to me, but in a way that it seems like part of the picture, not the entire picture. Like you said, possible symptom, not root cause.