What correcting others has to do with bottom up processing

OK, let's talk about what bottom-up processing has to do with a person correcting others.

Because a lot of autistic people do this. And, unfortunately, most people just see the autistic person as an annoying "know it all."

But the reason we do this actually makes a lot of sense if you understand what's happening in the brain.

So, let's start with what bottom-up processing is. 

Essentially it's taking in, evaluating, and assessing information as it comes in before deciding what to do with the information. 

It's an analytical approach to integrating new information into an existing knowledge set.

Top down processors are more comfortable making decisions with partial information or context than bottom-up processors.

Now let's zoom out and look at how this shapes a person's entire existence and understanding of the world. 

As a bottom-up processor experiences the world, they are constantly taking in, processing, and integrating new information. 

This literally starts at birth and continues every single day for as long as a person is alive. 

Which means that every single day a bottom-up processor is...

- evaluating and assessing all the new information they are being exposed to

- analyzing how it fits into their existing knowledge set

- and deciding if any of it conflicts with their current mental model of the world and their existence within it. 

And if they determine it does conflict, they then decide if they need to reconsider and rework their existing model to account for the new information, or if the new information is incorrect and should be ignored. 

This is a daily mental process. 

And it happens minute to minute for most people because new information is *everywhere*.

Especially in the age of social media. 

And especially because not all information is equal... much of it is blatantly made up... which just makes this mental process even more crucial for this type of thinker.

Now, let's say you're 42 years old ( ) and you've lived your entire life processing the world this way.

And let's say you have comprehensively and painstakingly built a mental model of the world based on formal education (school and work) and lived experience...

And now, let's add in an autism-specific layer to this... 

You also have a highly attuned, tightly calibrated pattern recognition ability and systems level (big picture) thinking. 

(Two skills repeatedly associated with autistic brain wiring in scientific literature.)

So, what does that mean for you and your understanding of the world?

It means that you have 42 years of rigorously analyzing, evaluating, and testing information that has become your mental model for understanding the world and your place in it.

So, when you believe something is true, it's not because you "feel it in your gut." 

It's because you have 42 YEARS of stress-tested and validated RESEARCH contributing to that belief. 

(Look up "single subject design"... this is a real and extremely valid research method).

So... when someone comes into your sphere sharing information you *know* is inaccurate as though it's factual, you have an intense and instant mental reaction that hijacks your brain.

Often coupled with overwhelming, sometimes even intolerable anxiety.

Not because you "need to be right" but because you need the world to have the *correct* information.

Now, this does get a little muddied when you factor in that a person might have built their mental model on incorrect inputs. (Think cults, as just one example)

But that factor doesn't change what the person is experiencing internally. 

If you take two people who experience life this way... one whose knowledge set is built on science and the other whose knowledge set is built on distortions, the internal experience will likely be the same.

I do have one more important piece to cover here.

Let's say someone comes to an autistic person with information that conflicts with their world view... but offers lengthy, detailed, thorough logic explaining their perspective...

 

Now, the autistic person has all sorts of new information they can analyze and assess.

And that is often enough to make them pause and reevaluate their bigger picture view and understanding of the world.

Will that always lead the autistic person to decide that the new information is correct and should be integrated? No.

But it does often give them enough of a reason to seek out more information and continue evaluating. 

So, I would argue that processors like this ARE concerned with being right... but not because they want to be SEEN as right. 

Because they want to actually BE right.

Meaning, they want the information they hold in their minds and their subsequent world view to reflect the truth. Whatever that may be. 

And if we are ever given a reason to believe our current perspectives are not accurate or true... we will spiral into a fit of anxiety over that. This is not an exaggeration.

Give us a reason to reconsider our current perspectives, and we'll be researching before you've had a chance to finish your sentence.