Do Your Mind Switch Off Your Eyes When In Deep Thought?

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Mountain Goat
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18 Oct 2020, 5:39 am

I don't know if this is related to anything in relation to autism or if NT's do it or if it is just me. If I am in deep thought I will find myself staring forward but the picture of what I am looking at will either stick as a random picture (As my eyes will just fix themselves on a random scene), or I will most likely have my eyes out of focus etc, but regardless of this, my eyesight will go "Offline" while my brain is forming its own pictures while deep in thought, as when I'm in deep thought, I am thinking in pictures, and I want to concentrate on these pictures rather then be disstracted with the outside world.
It can get me in trouble at times when I do this as once I heard a lady shout "That man's staring at me!" I heard what she said and I went back to using my eyes to see what she was on about and she was pointing at me as if I was some wierd stalker. Why would I want to stare at her when I had deep thought to concentrate on. Besides that she was not my type at all, so why would I be trying to look at her?

But anyway. Sometimes the same effect happens when my brain turns itself off entirely... No thoughts whatsoever. Does not happen often, but it is odd as my mind is always thinking. Even when I am asleep my mind dreams. So when this happens and then my mind automatically comes back online if it has some sort of external distraction (Actually when the example of the lady above happened I think my mind had turned itself off though I had also been deep in thought... Uhmm).

But anyway. Why don't other people seem to do the same? I mean... With me I will have the appearance that I stare forward for a while and I will be motionless and likely to have whatever facial expression that I had when going into this stare (Stare without using my eyes? I know it sounds wierd! Haha). But why is it rare for me to see anyone else doing this? I have been a bit nurvous to ask anyone else if they do this incase they think there is something wrong with me.

Uhmmm. Good job only a few people from this site know me as I write this. :D


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magz
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18 Oct 2020, 5:48 am

I interpret is as hyperfocus - a tendency to focus on things to the point the rest of reality becomes merely background noise.
Typically, NTs don't do it.


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Mountain Goat
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18 Oct 2020, 5:55 am

magz wrote:
I interpret is as hyperfocus - a tendency to focus on things to the point the rest of reality becomes merely background noise.
Typically, NTs don't do it.


Yes. With me it comes either in hyperfocus, or it comes in a type of... ( What I am trying to say is either hyperfocus or my mind switches off completely) Well. I am not sure if it might be the same as the mindblank situations I get when I speak to doctors etc? Uhmmm. Not quite though because mindblank is due to me trying to speak directly when my mind hits a mental wall and goes blank, hence why I keep naturally going off on tangents to aboid this... But these are differe t but feel the same when I just stare forward and my mind is switched off completely! I don't even breathe! Ooh. Sometimes I can find myself not breathing and I did not even notice until my body suddenly panics and I grasp for air in a panic! Uhmm. Not sure if all these things are the same as they are different but connected?
Uhmm. Sorry. I might be confusing things.


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AuroraBorealisGazer
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18 Oct 2020, 3:31 pm

Yes (or I think so... My mind keeps trailing off while I try to read). I have to eliminate other distractions to really think properly, so I focus my eyes on something like a pen or a spot on the wall, to tune out other distractions. Then my mind can put the image of my hyperfocus in the background and think (aka go through my mental imagery and sounds). I think maybe I started doing this because it was more socially acceptable than hiding my head behind my hair



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18 Oct 2020, 4:01 pm

Yes, although I don't notice it at the time. Occasionally, I miss the thing I'm actually looking for in plain sight when I'm not in deep thought, just frustration. There's also a middle condition, when I can't recognize an item unless it is in a certain orientation. When I'm falling asleep, I sometimes notice the point where my hearing switches off, and that startles me awake because there's no familiar "pop" from any electronics.
John Von Neumann is said to have found his office by dragging his fingernails along the wall, so he could count doorways while thinking, not seeing.



Jakki
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18 Oct 2020, 4:39 pm

Daydreaming...?... but intense , visual cortex part of the brain becomes secondary to the processing dept . Of ones own mind , possibly . Just offered as a thought based on some personal experiences. Looking at one thing or direction and the brain is processing another , higher priority thoughts and images . Not consciously considers actual level of importance . Only find these circumstances when am not directly being accosted by another human being .
This is prolly a very poor description of this Process . Very possibly related to some sort of creativity . Or ???
Often I wonder if there aren’t several triggers involved in this process , mental Aswell as organic ?


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