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Hyperfocus

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Summary

  • Deep engagement can reduce awareness of time and surrounding cues, making it easier to miss the moment to switch tasks.
  • Sustained engagement in some activities does not mean the same is possible in learning or social situations.
  • Feeling absorbed is no substitute for results; evidence does not establish hyperfocus as a guarantee of productivity.

A lack of response may mean a call went unnoticed

Proposed in research

A review discussing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other groups suggests that hyperfocus may make surrounding cues harder to notice. For example, a child absorbed in a game may not notice a parent calling their name(Ashinoff & Abu-Akel, 2019).

Another study also included reduced awareness of time and surroundings in its description of hyperfocus(Groen et al., 2020). A missed response therefore does not necessarily mean someone is deliberately ignoring others.

Sustained engagement can coexist with attention difficulties

Proposed in research

Two surveys covering more than 600 people found that more ADHD traits were associated with more frequent reports of hyperfocus(Hupfeld et al., 2019).

Another study detected no difference in hyperfocus frequency or duration between the ADHD group and one matched control group. Some results differed with another control group. Hyperfocus in people with ADHD also occurred less often in learning and social situations(Groen et al., 2020).

Sustained engagement in one activity does not establish that someone has no attention difficulties.

Feeling absorbed does not mean performing better

Proposed in research

Ashinoff and Abu-Akel’s review notes that whether hyperfocus improves performance remains unclear on evidence that is mostly indirect or correlational and largely comes from flow research(Ashinoff & Abu-Akel, 2019).

Whether an episode of engagement was effective depends on what was accomplished, rather than the subjective feeling of absorption alone.

Evidence

References (3)
  1. ReviewHyperfocus: the forgotten frontier of attentionAshinoff, Abu-Akel (2019). Psychological Research
  2. Cohort studyTesting the relation between ADHD and hyperfocus experiencesGroen Y, Priegnitz U, Fuermaier ABM, Tucha L, Tucha O, Aschenbrenner S, Weisbrod M, Garcia Pimenta M (2020). Research in Developmental Disabilities
  3. Cohort studyLiving "in the zone": hyperfocus in adult ADHDHupfeld KE, Abagis TR, Shah P (2019). ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders