Using movie plots to help your central coherence?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm wondering if anyone's used the tactic/strategy of incorporating the analysis of movie plots into bolstering your central coherence thinking... which as most of us know, also incorporates ToM or Theory of Mind.

While in my 20s, after diagnosis, I watched several rom-coms to absorb and rehearse dialogue and that served me well for dating women (including some very attractive women!), I also researched and regularly practiced social rules which IMO were easier by comparison to other ASD/HFA deficits (b/c they're more "static" compared to spontaneous nonverbal intuition), I found that there were several times where I still "couldn't see the forest for the trees". It's that darn parts-to-whole or faulty filtering mechanism that plagues those of us on the spectrum, despite having good attitude, intentions, and general intelligence otherwise

So, I got into a habit of watching a drama or crime show or movie at least once a week, then consciously trying to piece things together to guess what characters might feel, think or do next, and where the plot was heading (of course, there were always some surprise twists a-la M. Night Shamalayan which even NTs don't see coming), then compared my mental notes to the Wikipedia plot summary to fill in the gaps or correct the misinterpretations, and found that my central coherence generally improved.

Whether or not it evidentially did, i.e. by taking my brain scan before and after to see if there were stronger connections between the two hemispheres, I can't tell you but it felt that way. Of course, I still have/had to use more conscious focus and it's not nearly as spontaneously accurate as an average NT, but it's enough to get me on a passable level and diminish any semblance of "weirdness" or "other-than" - in fact, I've used my absorption of movie plots in casual conversation with NTs and what I "picked up" from the movies as part of masking