zoning out

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I think this is common. I notice when I drive, I often come to a point where I don't remember what I was just doing, and I say to myself, Boy, I hope I was paying attention to the road like I should. My dad, who has some autistic traits though never needed to be diagnosed, says he has the same issue.

Where I get into trouble is jobs that require coordination of both mental and physical processes, where my tendency to zone out slows me down and often causes me to make the same mistakes over and over. This I think is carelessness that is somewhat typical with people on the autism spectrum and in ADHD.

How have other people experienced this?

From what I'm told by different, experienced drivers, this is supposed to be normal. It would explain a lot of driving I've seen around here...

I sometimes zone out while driving I all of a sudden slam on my breaks because I noticed a car in front of me stopped. I don't seem to have it as bad as you.


I zone out during meetings and I zoned out in school all the time because of so much talking.

I zone out all the time.

Part of it is because my working memory is garbage, so my brain always has to switch to a "loading screen" when processing new information.

I have a little dent in the front end of my car to remind me of one of those zone-out moments. Luckily for me, I hit some guy, and HE sped off! Which meant I didn't have to pay a dime.

I zone out all the time too. I also feel memory plays a role in it but that it's a combination of things. I think it's just the nature of ASD that we focus on the internal and don't store the external in memory properly. When I took the wechsler tests I scored ~10th percentile on all but 2 Wechsler Memory Scale subtests yet hit the ceiling on the WAIS arithmetic and digit span (both of these fall under working memory). I think the difference is I have numbers running through my head all the time. So I have a predisposition to focus on what's going on in my head and a predisposition to store it in memory rather than store external data. Just a thought about how I experience it, probably different for others.

I know exactly what you mean. When it comes to driving I am typically pretty engaged in it and aware of what's around me at all times, I use certain "systems" of sorts to drive as efficiently as I can. But I have most definitely had those moments of zoning out, where I will arrive to my destination and not remember the drive what so ever, as I was zoning out the entire time. When zoning out like this I will sometimes go through an intersection, then once through it wonder if the light was actually green.

I zone out after a lot of input, such as having to be in a social situation. I can't control it.

Zoning out while driving is fairly common. It's one of those things where the subconscious takes over. The only problem I've had with it is that sometimes I'm halfway to work before I realize it, and I meant to go to the grocery store.

While zoning out seems common, and I have participated in this discussion topic in a large university class, I think we could have a little "extra". If my mind is on something I am interested in, I have a big fight to pay attention to the road. Particularly when your thought-style is "thinking in pictures". I became obsessed with set theory for a while and figured out I should stick to the bus for transportation. I indulged myself and everyone was safe. I was just so excited and it opened up so many possibilities. The same thing happened when I became obsessed with how to make a circular square, one that I am still playing with a few years later. Does this count as 'zoning out'?

I know video games are very different to driving, but when ive been playing for extended hours i will zone out for short durations and continue playing just as well as i was when i was concentrating.
WHats irritating is that especially for FPS games, im a better shot when im zoned out and my end game scores reflect this quite drastically in some cases.
Why oh why cant i tap into it on demand when i need too - instead of when someone is talking at me or when im tired?

Heh.

My working memory score on the WISC-IV was so horrible that it was in the "borderline" range.

My forgetfulness and "distractability" are bad enough that I got ADHD-PI added to my DX by my psychiatrist a few weeks ago. Oddly, I have a nearly photographic memory for printed text and lists of vocabulary words.

I have a highly "associative" brain that doesn't lend itself to memorizing sequences, or any non-meaningful information.

I tend to "zone out" when doing art-related tasks or eating (if I don't focus on trying to swallow, I'll end up choking). On occasion, I have noticed that I would find myself in a classroom without initially remembering how I got there. One would think that if they cycled to class, they should have remembered doing it.

I zone out regardless of motion, so I don't drive because for me, it could happen anytime and that's dangerous for everyone, especially here because people can't drive here at all (horrible drivers).

It's only carelessness if you don't give a crap. The fact that you're even thinking about it tells me it's not carelessness in your case. It's something you don't have control over. That's not carelessness.

I zone out sometimes in social situations, when i'm stressed, tired, or people are talking to me.