What does this mean?

Central Coherence is the ability to process separate pieces of information into a coherent whole. It is the ability to see the 'whole picture'. 

For example, most people will look at a metal object, with 4 wheels, a windscreen, 4 doors, seats and a steering wheel and recognise it as a car. They have put the pieces of information together, very quickly and automatically, and identified the whole picture. This skill is known as 'strong central coherence'.

In 1989, Uta Frith, psychologist, shared a theory that autistic people may have weak central coherence . This means that they may be more likely to recognise and remember individual details, rather than the whole picture.

In the image below, the person recognises the doll, the bed and the quilt as separate items, but because he does not recognise the overall context of the items, he describes the pillow as a piece of ravioli. It does, in fact, look rather like ravioli, but the context should tell us that it is actually a pillow.

How does it affect people?

If a person has weak central coherence, they will struggle to fully understand the context of the information they have been given.

For example, a person might find it hard to remember someone's name or face, but can remember their red shoe laces. They may not be able to tell you the story of their recent day trip to the seaside, but might instead tell you specific details about the colour of the sand or the coldness of the ice cream.

This can make it difficult for people to notice or communicate important information, to recognise danger or to understand some types of humour. It could also lead to people becoming overwhelmed in some busy or stimulating environments.

Weak central coherence may be one of the reasons autistic people often use language literally. They may be processing words as individual pieces of data, rather than using the overall context of the conversation to understand the meaning.

This theory may also partly explain why some autistic people have great skills or strengths. If you are not distracted by the wider context, you can focus on the detail and become very knowledgeable or skilled.

What strategies might be helpful?

If you are supporting someone who may be 'detail focused' rather than 'context focused', you will need to think about this when discussing treatments, gaining informed consent and offering therapies:

  • Be specific and clear in your own use of language - do not expect people to infer meaning or read between the lines .
  • Give information in small chunks or single sentences, each containing one main idea.
  • Use social story*
  • Practical strategies, such as labelling items or writing lists can help people remember the function of objects or their contents

*There is information about how to use these in the How to guides - Information for clinicians section on this website.

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