Stuck on details instead of seeing the whole picture.

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I've understood that it's common for people with AS/ASD to notice and get stuck on details and that's true for me as well (which became very obvious to me during my assessment).

I'm a university student (which is really tough for me but I love learning things) and many times I've thought about how I seem to find it difficult to see "the whole picture" when learning things. When for example studying molecular cell biology and learning about different things in the cell (its organelles, different signaling pathways etc. etc.) I learn the different parts separately but find it difficult to put the parts together to see how the whole cell functions. I know how it functions and I've noticed how I often learn many more details than the others in my class (they have even laughed about the level of detail I learn) but it's hard to see exactly how the parts are connected. It all usually works out in the end though (as long as I spend a lot of time studying) and my grades are really good. But yeah, sometimes it's quite frustrating not really seeing the whole picture unless it's explained to me.

During a lecture today I also thought about how other people in my class seem to be able to use the things they learned in, for example, molecular cell biology and apply them to embryology (which is what we're studying at the moment). They told the professor how easy the lectures today were because we've talked about it before, but all I could think was "no that was different so please shut up. I really need to be reminded of these things and learn them here, for this specific situation, again". I remember a lot of things I learned during the molecular cell biology class and I recognize the concepts but it's like I have to specifically learn them in the new context as well before being able to fully use the knowledge I've already accumulated. It wasn't until today that I realized it might be because of my Asperger's. That perhaps I'm not stupid but "only" stuck on details. What do you think? Are these things common for people on the autism spectrum or am I just slow/stupid?

(Sorry for starting so many new threads lately by the way. Hope that's ok. Just like first learning about Asperger's raised a lot of questions, getting diagnosed with Asperger's has raised a whole lot of questions as well.)

I get stuck on details too but in a different way. Like I would be able to see the cells as parts and wholes without any issues but when it comes to other things like perhaps executive function things or more abstract concepts like life and relationship issues, I have a much harder time and tend to only see details.

Could you please explain what you mean? Perhaps some examples? I'm curious because so far I know my tendency to get stuck on details affects my studies, my ability to fill out forms, interpreting and figuring out what people are asking when they ask me questions etc, but I probably get stuck on other kinds of details too.

I am verry merry berry detail-oriented, but when studying science topics, I have always been able to make connections like your eggsample of molecular biology and embryology. Many of the general concepts are the same, even if the specific details are different.

I should probably clarify that I'm not incapable of making the connections in order to see the bigger picture. It's just difficult. Especially when the parts themselves are very detailed. It's a bit difficult to explain.

I do understand what you mean. Let me see if I can explain what happens to me. This is a bit difficult for me to explain because it is hard for me to know that right words to use. Okay, here is an example. When my husband talks to me about the household finances. He wants to figure out a scheme with the money so that we can make long term plans like for when we get older and may need to retire. Or how are we going to get ourselves financially able so that we can enjoy the things we need to enjoy and be secure in life. How are we going to make our money work for us in a big picture like that. For me I see each individual bill that needs to be paid and each specific item that needs to be saved up for. Does this help you understand?

The people who get the big picture, they may appear to understand something quickly, but if you question them a little, you will find that their knowledge breaks down quickly. The most general question, they can answer, but asking for more details, they can't answer, as they understand only the surface. In science, you need to deal with the details and the general concepts both. And it is important to switch back and forth between them quickly.

I'm good at noticing details but not my overall surroundings. It's like will notice a bug crawling on the sidewalk in detail....but would then step right out into traffic.

I am extremely detailed oriented. I work from the bottoms-up. Only once I have put the details together can I form the big picture. What I have found, by doing so, is that I understand both the big picture and details better than most, being able to toggle from details to big picture and back. However, the process is 100% details first.

Interestingly, prior to my diagnosis, I didn?t realize I was so detailed oriented, as compared to others. I thought my thinking pattern was quite normal. Then, I started to ?pick up? on comments that others made, regarding me being the most detailed-oriented person they know.

This is so true. What?s interesting is when you use the details to challenge the fundamental assumptions being made at that big picture level. It?s fun to watch them squirm. LOL.

LOL, I like watching them squirm too.
They think that they can go to the men's bathroom to eggscape my questioning, but how wrong they are...

Don't be fooled into thinking that the people who appear to get general ideas quickly are smarter than you.

I was much the same at university. I would spend a lot more time learning specifics and trying to piece together details because I couldn't just "get" it like everyone else. Like in electronics, I was so confused all the time, because we never went over how or why the pieces actually worked on a smaller level, they basically just said "this does this, we don't need to go over it." YES WE DO! So then I would spend time trying to research it myself and waste a bunch of time when I could have been doing my lab, but I needed to know or else I couldn't even come close to seeing the big picture.

I've always needed to understand all the little details before I can really comprehend it, and even then maybe I'm not seeing the big picture because I'm still too focused on all those little details. But if I don't learn the details I feel totally lost. I need to learn and understand all the details at the most fundamental level possible or it feels very confusing to me. In some ways it's annoying because others just seem to understand it right away, but then again, maybe they aren't really understanding it, they are just able to accept it without obsessing over details. Like teacher giving an equation, they all write it down and memorize it, then just plug in numbers where they fit. But whenever I learned a new equation, I would always determine how the mathematician created that equation. I helped me to understand the concept better, and helped me memorize it better too.

I can relate to what Ezra said about the bug, and then stepping-out into traffic----I've almost gotten overrun by a bus, TWICE!! !

Also, when the OP posted something about having trouble with forms----OMG, do I EVER!! ! I can get stuck on ONE word, and not know how to answer. I see now, in looking-back at my school years, that that's why I had such trouble with tests. I would analyze and analyze the thing to DEATH!! I, too, can get the overall picture, but MAN, does it take entirely too long to get "there"! !!

Skibum, I think I know what you mean. Can't say I'm completely sure though.

EzraS, I can sort of relate to that. I don't think I've almost stepped into traffic but I definitely notice small bugs etc. on the sidewalk. People have commented on it and they seem quite surprised I notice small things like that.

L_Holmes, that sounds a lot like me. I, too, need to understand the details in order to grasp the concept. I think it's very difficult to just accept things without them being properly explained. It's frustrating. I'd rather understand exactly how things work and then move on. When I don't understand things the way I want to understand them I actually have a tendency to give up easily instead of moving on. I don't like the uncertainty. Do you know what I mean?

Campin_Cat, forms are difficult, indeed. I get stuck on words as well and I need someone to explain exactly what it means. That caused some problems during my assessment. Not sure if you're interested but here's an example:

During one of my assessment sessions the psychologist gave me a form with loads of questions I was supposed to answer. There was, for example, a question like this: "do you daydream a lot and do you often get lost in your thoughts?" and I could choose between different answers. My mind went like this: "do I daydream a lot? Daydream? What does that even mean? Do they mean I just get stuck in my head or does it mean daydreaming as in getting lost in some sort of fantasy world? I don't get stuck in fantasy worlds but I do get stuck in my head. I think about things all the time. Does that mean I daydream? What does that even mean?! Okay, which of the answers do I choose? 'Never', 'one time a week or less', 'twice a week' or 'almost every day'? What? I mean, I wouldn't say I never daydream but how am I supposed to know how often I do it? It's a huge jump between 'never' and 'one time a week or less'. It's also a huge jump between 'twice a week' and 'almost every day'. And why twice a week? Why not three times a week? I don't like these options. Do I even daydream? How am I supposed to freaking know?"

I couldn't answer the question without help from the psychologist and according to her, "normal" people can read and come up with an answer to a question like that within a few seconds. I had such a hard time filling out forms like that, that the psychologist changed tactics and asked me the questions and talked to me about it instead (like an interview) and then filled out the answers for me, based on what I told her and the impression she got.

Last edited by rebbieh on 23 Sep 2014, 2:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I will take some time to see if I can think of a better example for you.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I've given up on a lot of things when I couldn't understand exactly how they worked, either because there wasn't enough information and the small amount available was very vague, or because there was way too much information and I didn't know where to start with all of it. At home, I would always ask my parents, "Why?" if they were telling me to do something, or a rule to follow, manners, etc. because I needed to understand it. And then I got in trouble because apparently I was being disrespectful, even when I tried to explain that it would help me follow their rule better. They always told me to "stop over-analyzing" and similar things.

Also, that sounds exactly like what I would do on an evaluation like that, I always feel the questions are never specific enough and I spend tons of time going back and forth on an answer, and usually just end up picking one without being entirely comfortable with it. In psychology, there was a day when we took a bunch of personality tests. I took forever on them, and when I was finally done I had gotten all different results from each, because I go way overboard analyzing what the question means, what the purpose of it is in determining someone's personality etc.

I did the same thing on the various online Asperger's tests, I must have taken each like 5-10 times because I started to worry that maybe I'd misinterpreted this or that. But I still always got the "very likely an Aspie" result from them so eventually I had to force myself to stop retaking them and accept those results. Ironically, at the time, I didn't realize that the fact that I was obsessing over them so much was an indicator by itself.

This applies to me as well.

As a side note, I have been taking a number of online classes lately. I have noticed that I have trouble remembering what was presented if the information is not presented in the "right" sequence. In college, I learned to compensate, by reading the material up front and applying my own organizational scheme/taxonomy to that information. This way, the lecture would simply augment my own internal organizational scheme/taxonomy. It eliminated having me create this organizational scheme/taxonomy "on the fly". It makes me wonder if there are differences in the way the autistic mind captures, classifies, stores, etc. information for later retrieval.