The Theory Of Weak Central Coherence And The Link To Autism

By default, we tend to treat the objects around us in a holistic way. When we look for an object and put all our efforts into finding it, we do so by taking a holistic picture of it as a reference. Thus, we do not look for it for the individual parts. Our semantic system represents it in its entirety. We do this because of an executive function known as central coherence. Below we explain the theory of weak central coherence.

In the same way, when we observe an object for the first time, we also observe its representation in a holistic way. We generally do not notice the individual parts that make it up. For example, if we observe people’s faces, we usually observe them as part of a whole. We usually do not notice the nose, mouth, etc. in an isolated way. We do this thanks to central coherence.

However, some studies tell us that this does not always happen. A good example here is in people who have autism spectrum disorders (ASF) or a condition that affects the executive functions. This is why neuroscience has focused on the theory of weak central coherence.

The theory of weak central coherence

This theory was formulated by Uta Frith in 1989, and Joliffe and Baron Cohen in 1999. It attempts to explain the difficulties that people with ASF have in integrating information into a single coherent “whole”. People with autism, or autism spectrum disorders, are characterized by fragmented processing. Thus, their attention tends to focus on small details.

According to Dr. Frith, people with ASF have difficulty interpreting situations by reading the intention of the participants from their eye movements, hand movements and other contextual signals.

This creates a clear disadvantage for them. They stop to focus on isolated parts, and as a result it takes longer to see the whole picture. Instead of going from the general to the specific, they do things the other way around.

Neuropsychological evaluation

Neuropsychological evaluation, which can determine if there is a change in the central coherence system, is a valuable tool for diagnosis. Using this method, experts can focus on the special ability of people with ASF to focus on details, to the detriment of their overall ability for central coherence.

This special ability to focus on details is evaluated using the task “masked figures” or Cube Subtest of Wechsler Intelligence Scales . Savante skills represent a very special cognitive style.

Experts have observed this in the neuropsychological evaluation of drawing ability. These people tend to start their drawings with a focus on all the details. They draw the individual parts in detail, one by one, instead of starting with a sketch of the holistic idea.

However, this theory does not explain the whole clinical picture that is characteristic of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASF). As a result, researchers suggest using it as an explanatory theory of detail-focused cognitive processing.

Complementary theories

A complementary theory is the “executive dysfunction model”. Although this model does not satisfy the whole set of ASF symptomatology, it explains some characteristics, such as lack of flexibility, difficulties in planning and generating new ideas, and the presence of repetitive behaviors.

This type of capacity is related to executive functions. Recently, researchers such as Rosenthal (2013) found an increase in the manifestations of executive deficits in older children.

Therefore, neuropsychological intervention should be performed from an early age in these areas or regarding deficits in executive functions, to minimize the effect of the disorder.

Just as the neurobiological perspective has shown that there is a wide and diverse range of genetic factors associated with ASF, from the neuropsychological approach, experts accept that a single deficit does not explain the heterogeneity of the disorder.

On the other hand, the theory of the deficit of social cognition is based on the idea that people with ASF show changes in their ability to represent their own, and other people’s mental states. This is in addition to the difficulty they have in understanding things from another person’s point of view, as this theory explains.

Therefore, the theory of weak central coherence states that this type of attention to detail can be seen as another type of cognitive processing. We do not necessarily have to see it as a deficit. In fact, this detail-focused treatment has many benefits. Consistently, it allows these people to make valuable contributions that people with a more normative way of processing information would not be able to see.