![Tunnel vision sc](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Tunnel_vision_sc.png)
Monotropism is a cognitive strategy posited to be the central underlying feature of autism. A monotropic mind is one that focuses its attention on a small number of interests at any time, tending to miss things outside of this attention tunnel. The theory of monotropism was developed by
Dinah Murray
Dinah Karen Crawshay Murray (27 May 1946 - 7 July 2021) was a writer, educator and campaigner for autism, autistic people. She collaborated in developing the theory of monotropism as a way of explaining autism in terms of a tendency to focus inte ...
, Wenn Lawson and Mike Lesser starting in the 1990s, and published about in the journal ''
Autism
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
'' in 2005.
Wenn Lawson's further work on the theory formed the basis of his PhD, ''Single Attention and Associated Cognition in Autism'', and book ''The Passionate Mind'' (Lawson, 2011).
A tendency to focus attention tightly has a number of psychological implications. While monotropism tends to cause people to miss things outside their attention tunnel, within it their focused attention can lend itself to intense experiences, deep thinking and
flow states. However, this
hyperfocus
Hyperfocus is an intense form of mental concentration or visualization that focuses consciousness on a subject, topic, or task. In some individuals, various subjects or topics may also include daydreams, concepts, fiction, the imagination, and ...
makes it harder to redirect attention, including starting and stopping tasks, leading to what is often described as
executive dysfunction
In psychology and neuroscience, executive dysfunction, or executive function deficit, is a disruption to the efficacy of the executive functions, which is a group of cognitive processes that regulate, control, and manage other cognitive processes ...
in autism, and
stereotypies
A stereotypy (, or ) is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing, crossing and uncrossing of legs, and marching in place. They are ...
or
perseveration
Perseveration, in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and speech-language pathology, is the repetition of a particular response (such as a word, phrase, or gesture) regardless of the absence or cessation of a stimulus. It is usually caused by a ...
where a person's attention is repeatedly pulled back to the same thing.
Characteristics
![Monotropic and polytropic learning](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Monotropic_and_polytropic_learning.png)
Since the amount of attention available to a person is limited,
cognitive processes
Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
are forced to compete. In the monotropic mind, interests that are active at any given time tend to consume most of the available attention, causing difficulty with tasks that demand a broad attention span, including conventional social interaction. Language development can be affected, both through the broad attention required and the psychological impact of language providing a tool for others to manipulate a child's interest system. As Murray et al. argue: 'Disruption of the attention tunnel is a painful experience. Language may suddenly become unattractive for a deeply monotropic infant.'
In the monotropism account,
theory of mind
In psychology, theory of mind refers to the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them (that is, surmising what is happening in their mind). This includes the knowledge that others' mental states may be different fro ...
difficulties seen in autistic people are not a 'core deficit' central to autism, but rather follow from the attentional demands of social interaction. As the autistic sociologist
Damian Milton
Damian Milton is a British sociologist and social psychologist who specialises in autism research, and an advocate in the Autism rights movement. He is a lecturer at the University of Kent as well as a consultant for the UK's National Auti ...
puts it, 'recognition of others may only occur if connected to the fulfilling of interests that the autistic individual has, otherwise the existence of others may not be registered at all. A monotropic focus leads to a fragmented view of the world, and from such a viewpoint it is exceptionally hard to make sense of social interactions, leading to potentially both apparent and real ‘theory of mind’ difficulties.'
Monotropic individuals have trouble processing multiple things at once, particularly when it comes to multitasking while listening. Some have trouble taking notes in class while listening to a teacher,
and may find it difficult to read a person's face and comprehend what they are saying simultaneously.
A common tendency is for individuals to avoid complex sensory environments because of this hypersensitivity.
In order for a person to be identified/diagnosed as autistic, they must exhibit a restricted and repetitive behavior (RRB). These behaviors arise due to the inability of the monotropic individual to shift attention and cause obsession with an object or ritual. Murray and Lesser describe the mind of a monotropic individual as working much like that of a hunter, with the person fully believing what is currently being seen, and suppressing knowledge learned previously. This account is strongly echoed in later work by Karvelis et al. in the
predictive processing model
In neuroscience, predictive coding (also known as predictive processing) is a theory of brain function which postulates that the brain is constantly generating and updating a "mental model" of the environment. According to the theory, such a ment ...
.
This mind is capable of suppressing pain and focusing attention on something else. It has the ability to develop great depth in a given interest or skill rather than gaining breadth in an array of interests.
Implications for practice
To help autistic individuals in understanding and navigating the world, Murray et al. propose that certain steps could be helpful. These include:
* Increase connections with other people through the child's interests: 'start where the child is'.
* Allow them to pursue their own interests, and build understanding that way.
* Improve understanding in order to correct false or partial connections.
* Make tasks more attainable by decreasing the number and complexity of them.
* Make tasks and connections more meaningful.
The focus should not be just on the autistic person's behaviours, skills or understandings; it is vital - and rewarding - for those around them to put in work to understand their perspectives, too.
See also
*
Autism and memory
The characteristics of memory function in autism have been studied for decades. Autistic people experience specific difficulties with memory and memory strengths.
While memory difficulty is not part of the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum ...
*
Autism and working memory
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed as impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. In this article, the word ''autism'' is used for referring to the whole range of conditions on the ...
References
{{reflist
Autism
Learning disabilities
Cognition