[iamanders]

Pax!
Dear fellow aspies and other people,
why is it called central coherence? What does central mean?

[-jimi-]

No idea... Got another.

One website says about language: rote skills are strong.

Dunno what that is.

[-jimi-]

I looked up the central coherence and it seems to be about how it is common to lump up objects and concepts. It's "normal" to lump up objects a certain way and if you do not, you have a weak central coherence. Like today, I bought books at the thrift store. They had sorted books by color and not alphabetically. I found that concept odd. Like who thinks "I'm gonna buy a red book today"?

I feel like this central coherence thing is people saying their sorting way is the right one, because it comes natural to them. And they are "normal". So it must be the way we are meant to function. Myself I feel if everyone is the same, nothing new would ever be done.

Also it seems to include that a weak central coherence includes thinking in details. And "normals" see the big picture. I kind of see a problem here as well. Even normals can see details, they are not blind to them. Even autistic people can see the big picture. After all, what IS the big picture? You can always go deeper and split things up in more and more details. The same you can go the other way and make larger and larger groups. I have AS and I'm well aware that the "whole" might be our solar system in one context, our galaxy in another.

I have a friend who likes to show me photos. He has focused it on whatever he wanted to capture and I look at that. But I also look at other things. I'm being "bad" and noticing a picture he has on his wall, a plaid on his chair...

I also feel like when it is language, "normals" use many words to describe something that can be told in a few words. And you are meant to just read what you would have used fewer words to describe. I can see why a person with autism might then not get the message, because so many things are said.

The problem is there is no clear description for this fancy term. "Not seeing the big picture" is not crystal clear. IMO science should not use vague concepts. I agree autistics can often perceive more details, but I'm also pretty sure very many have the same concepts, like a tree, a house, a chair, a pen etc.

[rosska]

Originally Posted by jimi...

One website says about language: rote skills are strong.

Dunno what that is.

Rote Skills refers to learning by repetition. If we hear or see something, we'll likely repeat it over and over again either aloud or in our heads as a way to remember it. NTs do this too when it comes to things like phone numbers where they want to quickly ingrain it, though Aspies tend to favour Rote learning over critical thinking. This means we're more likely to retain the information we've learned, but are less likely to fully understand it in a context where we could use it outside of what it was repeated from.

This is probably why a lot of Aspies show no signs of learning problems in the earlier years of school, where most learning is Rote learning. Such as multiplication tables, alphabet, etc. But when it comes to using that information in another context later in life, it can be more difficult.

[-jimi-]

Oh, then I suck at that. LOL.