The plan of this paper is as follows: we begin by reviewing the weak central coherence account and the evidence for and against it. This allows us to explain some experimental findings that have proved difficult for the weak central coherence account and to generate testable hypotheses. In this paper we address these issues by linking the weak central coherence account with recent research into the integration of neural activity through temporal binding. Moreover, the account can be criticized as being descriptive rather than explanatory and, related to this, the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of weak central coherence are not addressed. This account is supported by a large body of research, but a number of negative findings exist (Happe, 1999).

The focus of this paper, however, is on the perceptual and attentional abnormalities that these theories do not specifically address.įrith (1989) suggested that many of the perceptual and attentional abnormalities in autism could be interpreted in terms of a reduction in the contextual integration of information and a bias toward local rather than global processing, which she termed weak central coherence. At the cognitive level, most current theories address either the impairments in social interaction and communication (e.g., Baron– Cohen, 1995 Hobson, 1993 Meltzoff & Gopnik, 1994 Mundy & Sigman, 1989 Rogers & Pennington, 1991) or the behavioral inflexibility (e.g., Damasio & Maurer, 1978 Harris, 1993 Ozonoff, 1995 Pennington, 1994). Numerous theories have been proposed regarding the cognitive and neurological causes of these behavioral features (see Bailey, Phillips, & Rutter, 1996, for a review). Autism is also associated with certain perceptual and attentional abnormalities and is commonly but not universally associated with mental retardation (e.g., Wing, 1996). Temporal binding deficits could also contribute to executive dysfunction in autism and to some of the deficits in socialization and communication.Īutism is a developmental disorder that is currently defined in terms of a triad of impairments in social interaction, communication, and behavioral flexibility (American Psychiatric Association, 1994 World Health Organization, 1992). The failure to utilize context in language processing in autism can be explained in similar terms. The visuoperceptual anomalies associated with weak central coherence may be attributed to a reduction in synchronization of high-frequency gamma activity between local networks processing local features. We propose the hypothesis that the features of autism associated with weak central coherence result from a reduction in the integration of specialized local neural networks in the brain caused by a deficit in temporal binding. However, the precise cognitive and neurological mechanisms underlying weak central coherence are still unknown. PDFįrith has argued that people with autism show “weak central coherence,” an unusual bias toward piecemeal rather than configurational processing and a reduction in the normal tendency to process information in context.

Development and Psychopathology, 14, 209-224. The temporal binding deficit hypothesis of autism. Brock, J., Brown, C.C., Boucher, J., & Rippon, G.

Central coherence deficit autism