Unfocusing your eyes while concentrating?

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This is a question for diagnosed Aspies preferably. Does anyone else unfocus their eyes while concentrating, or when detailed vision isn't really necessary?

I notice this most prominently when playing guitar or the piano and concentrating on the notes. When I read this BBC article it made sense, kind of:

Brain 'closes eyes' to hear music

I also find myself doing it while driving - because I can still see, per se, cars and everything no problem, it is just that I cannot read signs or see sharp detail at the time. When I need to read something I of course focus them again. It helps me concentrate more on my thoughts... I wear glasses sometimes but I still do it while wearing them to some extent.

It must have something to do with our ability to focus more than normal people if we are just able to get around our heightened sensory perception. I know we look away from people when we are thinking about how to answer them in conversation - it seems like that.

I de focus when forced to look at someone straight on-or am forced to make eye contact-as eye contact is very painful to me.

I sort of relate. If I'm having a conversation with someone, and let my eyes space out, I can follow their train of thought better and can even come up with better responses.

For me it's the opposite. I tend to do that when I can't concentrate on something, and my thoughts just wander.

I can relate to this. When I listen to something or start to thinking about something I can subconsciously unfocus my eyes so I see two pictures. But it's not that I don't see the pictures, I can analyze them as well, but in a bit different way.

I always thought that it's my own trait, because I was always a master of stereograms (I can see them extremely quickly). Always, when I see a repeated pattern, I change the focus of my eyes to match the shapes together. I also use this feature to quickly filter out differences in two similar pictures, compare lengths when I have to leave constant distances between elements etc.

Yes! Things like these are always fun: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... 1904_3.jpg

Hey, I drew a few anaglyphs in primary school and when I showed them to others I even became an one-day-hero . They were simple though (only outlines), I managed to draw them using two markers in one hand. When I needed to strengthen or lighten the depth, I slightly changed the angle between markers. I could also watch the 3D model simultaneously using my eyes, which is a little bit harder without proper glasses.

I also noticed that one of my eyes saw more reddish images, and other saw more greenish. That scared me, because I thought that it was caused by overusing my 3D glasses (I made them by myself too)

Sorry for the off-topic, but this subject is really interesting.

Interesting topic..

I actually have difficulty focusing on the words when reading text on very white clean paper. I tend to focus well beyond the words. the paper appears to have "depth" to me. Like a void with the text floating.

An out of focus picture I can bring into focus with a little squinting. Most optical illusion/brain teasers don't fool me either.

a little off topic, I also can create a white noise in my ears(not my head) to block out unwanted noise. It helps to focus my thoughts as I try to hear everything at the same time.

I do it when I don't need them. Like, if I'm reading, they stay in focus, if I'm playing guitar or listening to music or talking, they go out.

I do this a lot. For me I think its a filter that I subconsciously put over my visual input to cut back how much it affects me. I notice that I do it pretty much constantly when I am becoming overwhelmed or tired. It lets me cut out all the detail, the colour, lets me feel like I am in a cloudy protective bubble. I can see just enough to get by though. But I can't shake it off until I sleep or reset.

I also have this issue. Check out Irlen Syndrome. Very common with Aspergers.

I rarely focus properly unless I'm actually looking at something. It's only been a problems when drawing, in which case I tend to focus well beyond the paper while still looking at the paper. After a while of this I can't really see anything because my eyes are too strained from attempting to have several focal points.

When concentrating internally and not actually needing to look at anything it's a very nice thing to be able to do though. It helps concentration a lot.

Yeah. My eyes are unfocused by default. It takes a small but perceptible amount of effort to keep them focused on something.

I'm guessing it's got something to do with the way I really can't help being flooded by details. Deliberately limiting my ability to sense things probably helps to reduce the flooding somewhat. I also do things like wearing sunglasses, earphones, and comfortable clothing. I've even found that I can actually see better when I've got sunglasses on, because if I haven't, I'll go into a sort of minor mental freeze trying to sift all that light. Making things a bit darker helps me see better. Go figure.

Yes I tune out the detail and defocuss quite a lot. I often miss things such as people passing as I'm only looking at a small area ahead. I've had people wave in front of my eyes before when gazing into space.

I used to, all the time.

Don't have to anymore. All I have to do now is take off my glasses.