It's funny you mention the elderly CoCo it reminds me of a quote from nineteen eighty-four when "Winston" is trying to have a conversation with an old man and becomes frustrated with the man's inability to provide any useful info.
" The old man's memory was nothing but a rubbish heap of details. One could question him all day without getting any real information."
"Winston" goes on to note of the people in general:
"They remember a million useless things, a quarrel with a workmate, a hunt for lost bicycle pump, the expression on a long-dead sisters face, the swirls of dust on a windy morning seventy years ago: but all relevant facts were outside the range of their vision. They were like the ant, which can see small objects but not large ones." End quote.
I call it "big picture" blindness.