The Weak Central Coherence Account of Autism

Abstract

(from the chapter) In recent years, the notion that children with autism show weak central coherence has received increasing interest and prompted a rapidly growing number of studies. Detail-focused processing has been demonstrated at several levels. The division into verbal-semantic, visuo-spatial constructional, and perceptual levels for the purpose of this review is largely for convenience. An interesting issue for future research concerns possible high-level or top-down effects on even apparently peripheral perceptual processes (Coren & Enns, 1993). This chapter looks at central coherence in autism in relation to processing, deficit accounts, savant skills, cognitive style variations, and the phenotype of autism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)