Focusing on some details while missing others?

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I'll sometimes become so focused on certain details when I'm working on a task that I'll overlook other details and let seemingly careless mistakes slip through. (This also can happen when I can't tune out my surroundings.) Do you experience this too?

(I swear--if I don't have AS, I probably have some form of ADHD.)

Yes! This happens to me all the time. Like when I am reading my java assignments I will miss some of the simplest things others will find before I find out I did an assignment wrong. Like my first java assignment two years ago in college told me to use integers, but I just used a double. I lost 5 points because of that on the homework assignment.

Actually, this is the primary reason for my social mistakes. I am keying in to one part of the interaction and then miss an important cue in some other aspect. Generally, I either focus too much on what is being said and so I miss nonverbals, or I am so focused on non-verbals that I missed a key point.

Not exactly what you are talking about, I know, but I was just talking to a friend the other day about how often this happens.

All the time! Especially what InThisTogether said.

I think I do that, too.

At work I know I make the fewest mistakes, pick up other people's mistakes and am able to figure out things that involve detailed logical thinking, but I sometimes completely neglect other things that need to be taken care of. I tend to get certain things done 100%, but others 0.

yes what InThisTogether said applys to me too. I am too focused on what people are saying and i think I fail to pick up on body language =(

Oh yeah, this has happened more times than I can remember, I think it's part of the "absent minded professor" archetype that so many of us manifest!!

Also part of the Aspergers inherent shortcoming in multi-processing; the ability to fairly smoothly integrate multiple streams of information. As a previous respondent to this post alluded to, it's not so much our inability to pick up on nonverbals; it's our inability to absorb both the verbal and non-verbal stream simultaneously (like many Aspies, if I focus only on nonverbals, I can get the person's mood and thoughts quite well).

It has been a source of embarrassment for me though. Often times, I will become "detail-biased" with a certain set of details, bring up the perceived problem to somebody else, then I will interrupt myself and say "oh, wait, nevermind...I just realized that not only are there factors A and B, there's also factors C and D. OK, so don't worry about it...it's resolved..."

It caused issues at work too - in a past job, one manager who wouldn't hesitate to point out my flaws told others in a meeting (which I heard about second hand), "I can't help but worry that when Jayo is assigned to any given project, he will miss or overlook things that should be obvious because he's so focused on what he prefers to focus on..." - something along those lines.

Yeah, definitely.