Visual obsessiveness

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I have that too. I can totally relate. I also watch spinning objects, or moving objects. I love to solve Rubik's Cube, and I watch the colors of it, and when I go to sleep, I can see the Cube move in my head. I also watch the ventilator at school, or colors on the floor, so on and on. It's so common to me, I don't even notice it as odd. I've had this my entire life.

Oh GOD, yes. It's not just me then.

I find myself drawn to any kind of mole or blemish....I hate it when I do this, because it looks rude. (My NT mother took great delight in actually pointing out my zits to me as a teen, so I know exactly how annoying it is.)

I'm recalling an elderly gentleman who's a friend of ours that we were having dinner with a while back, and he's bald, and I couldn't stop looking at the moles on his forehead...(The really weird thing is that a short time later, he had, I'm grateful to say entirely successful, surgery to remove one of them because it was a melanoma. I'm not saying I have any kind of spooky diagnostic talent or anything, but it was weird hearing that.)

Also... women's cleavages. If a woman is wearing anything low-cut, my eyes are kind of drawn to her cleavage, or if she's wearing a tight top I will notice her boobs. I'm a woman, and I'm straight, and it's just plain embarrassing.

I am exactly the same, I find it really hard not to stare at peoples imperfections.
The harder I try not to, the more I want to look.

I also generally find that certain objects draw my attention when I least expect it.
I was in a pub last night and they had a lot of logs everywhere, in the walls etc as some kind of general display which kept attracting me. I think it was the circular shape of them and the fact that I was trying to count them all in one go!

Visualize this! topic

Looky look!

Sometimes I stare at something in order to reember it later. Theere is always some reason why I do this, usually because something is bothering me, and I need to write about it. This wa something Kafka did, as well.

I have the same problem, and yes it is embarassing... I know. I dont know if it is the shape, or whether I have a male brain that has this primitive mechanism to check out cleavage. I am also straight so I have no need whatsoever to look at cleavage.

Anyway thanks for all your replies guys I do feel a little better that I am not alone with this visual sensitivity, maybe it is primarily an aspie/autistic thing after all.

I haven't been diagnosed yet so it is one more clue pointing to me being on the spectrum anyway.

Yes, definitely. Quite often when my gaze has become fixed on something that the light glints off in some way, I'll then find myself moving my head very slightly from side to side, or moving it around in my hands if it's an object I'm holding, to make it flash and shine.

I'm fully aware that being fascinated by shiny, sparkly things is textbook AS/autistic, but they're not something that crosses my mind 95% of the time and I wouldn't say they were a particular fixation of mine at all. It's just sometimes, when I'm not thinking about anything, that my brain seems to fall into a certain mood, and I'll find myself transfixed by and actively seeking to cause this flashing, even as I'm perfectly aware on another level that I'm doing it and can't really understand why.

yes omgosh anything thats royal blue i jsut loooove haha

Yeah I lloved glitter when I was a teen and that was even before glitter became fashionable again.

I do find though that my visual issues have become far worse over the last few years.

I think my life is a lot more demanding now than it was when I was a teen so now I am more overloaded more easily.

One of the only reasons I liked going to mass on Sunday, was it gave me the opportunity to stare at intensely colored stained glass windows. The deep intense reds and cobalt blues were extremely hypnotic. I still love blue glass.

I don't stare at things as much now, rather, there are things that I find very uncomfortable to look at, for example stripped patterns in carpets me feel queasy. These are found at the entrances to shops, stripped mates to wipe your feet on.

I also get obsessed with moles and beauty spots on peoples faces. I can't stop looking.

Wasn't that in the Film Austen Powers... yes here it is....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvxe04wGmTw[/youtube]

Thanks David, I love that movie (Austin Powers, I mean).

Another thing I have often wondered is if there is a way to reduce this problem so I react less to visual things. Sometimes it feels like the world is in too sharp focus and I would like to soften it so it would be less compelling to look at, but I dont know how...

Oh yes, I have this problem, often when I am fantazising or "creating" as I call it. I often will stare at my bedsheets, electrical outlets, the bathroom floor, the ceiling in my bedroom if I am laying on my bed amongst other things. I also have the problem with imperfections like if someone's jacket isn't symmetrical or if one lapel is up and the other down. Or if the collar isn't fixed right. I also notice alot of facial imperfections like moles, bad teeth, things stuck between teeth, if there is something on their lips, face or clothes (like a fuzzy). I usually will end up telling the person about it and bring it to notice but I try not to do it to embarrass them.

I feel like an imposter saying this, because this is going to sound like a really "autistic" thing to do, and I'm still not even sure if I'm AS.

But if I look up at the ceiling, which is textured with little bumps, or certain other textures, I can see something in front of it that looks like zillions of little air molecules whizzing around. I don't know if I'm actually seeing light reflecting off of some kind of moving particles or if it's just an optical illusion, but I get kind of sucked into that. It's not like bits of dust floating lazily in a beam of light; these are miniscule sparkles that blast all around like little billiard balls going so fast it's like a shimmer. I've tried to find out if other people can see it, but I can't seem to teach people where or how to look.

I can look at those little sparkles for a long time, but I won't suddenly zone out in the middle of a conversation and stare into the air.

Spinning things, definitely, but it's under my control, not automatic.

( o )( o )

Ya gotta love 'em!

They sound like my "spinny things"! They definitely exist, otherwise they wouldn't have a name

My eyes will draw lines between objects, bouncing off corners (my fingers or toes will often move almost imperceptibly, mirroring the movement.) I can sit staring at a blank wall as I trace lines through nothingness. I find it frustrating if I don't find a decent "bounce". (I haven't been diagnosed yet either.)

That is interesting, bouncing off objects. My eyes sort of get drawn to things, like a magnet with a piece of metal.