Many people with autism report finding it easier to focus on one task at a time, known as “monotropism”. While monotropism can be fantastic for deep focus, it can also make everyday demands harder to keep up with. Learn all about it in this in-depth guide.
What Is Monotropism?
Monotropism is a theory that suggests people with autism tend to place all their attention on one or just a small number of things. This makes it difficult to switch tasks or direct attention towards different demands at once.
When it comes to building skills and knowledge, or tackling activities that require deep focus, it’s believed monotropism can be a big help. For example, a student displaying monotropism might spend hours hyperfixated on a piece of creative writing, leading them to craft something deeply detailed and imaginative, having not once drifted from the task at hand.
Yet, for everyday activities like having a conversation while working or remembering to eat or drink while engrossed in another activity, monotropism is less helpful. This is because all of the person’s focus is directed at the main activity, leaving little mental capacity for other needs or demands.
Who Developed the Theory of Monotropism?
The theory of monotropism came about in the 1990s and is attributed to autistic researchers Dinah Murray and Wenn Lawson. Murray and Lawson had both spent many years researching similar themes around autistic experiences, and after eventually meeting at a conference, they forged a deep friendship and long-term professional partnership, where they would go on to explore and develop their shared ideas around attention and autism.
Mathematical philosopher and political activist Mike Lesser also played an important role in developing the theory, particularly by bringing a mathematical perspective to the way attention and interests could be understood. In 2005, Murray, Lesser and Lawson published the paper ‘Attention, Monotropism and the Diagnostic Criteria for Autism’, which formally set out the theory.
Together, their work suggested that autistic people tend to focus their attention more intensely on a smaller number of interests or tasks at one time, rather than dividing their attention across several things at once. This idea became known as monotropism, and helped to explain a number of common autistic experiences, such as deep interests, difficulty switching attention, a preference for routine and structure, and becoming overwhelmed when faced with multiple demands.
Monotropism vs Polytropism
While autistic individuals tend to show a preference for one activity at a time, others may find it easier to have their attention spread across several activities or demands. This is known as polytropism, and means a person is able to pay attention to multiple different things at once – an experience that’s thought to be much more common in individuals with neurotypical brains.
While both neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals can sometimes experience difficulty multitasking, generally, people with neurotypical brains tend to find it easier to switch activities or process different things simultaneously. This is because their attention can shift more easily between different demands.
However, in autism, it’s not just “conscious” activities that are a struggle. Quite often, people with autism have to physically focus their attention on subtle behaviours that neurotypical people take for granted; things like making eye contact while talking, reading body language, or making small talk while processing what someone else is saying. Having to divide attention between all of these separate demands can make even simple communication tricky for someone with a more monotropic attention style.
Attention Tunnels and Flow States
Autism researcher Dinah Murray came up with the idea of “attention tunnels” to describe periods of really intense focus on one particular interest or activity. She suggested that autistic brains tend to focus deeply on one thing at a time, then shift quite suddenly into a different “attention tunnel”, rather than spreading their attention across lots of things at once.
This idea of zoning out from the rest of the world and tuning into a single task is often described as entering “flow state”, and research shows that it can provide a great deal of comfort for people with autism. Flow state is usually seen in activities that an autistic person is particularly interested in, like hobbies or certain kinds of work. Engaging closely with these hobbies in a state of immersion can help to create predictability and reduce anxiety from autistic inertia – where someone struggles to start, stop, or switch tasks.
How Monotropism Shapes Autistic Experience
While flow states or “attention tunnels” can help individuals to tap into their creativity or produce highly detailed work, being intensely focused on one thing at a time can also cause difficulties, especially when people with polytropic-type attention are unable to relate to the monotropic experience. Someone who has a monotropic attention style might:
Fail to reply to their name being called while engrossed in work
Become upset when asked to switch between different tasks
Lose track of time, hunger, or thirst while deeply absorbed in an activity
Find it difficult to follow a conversation when already focused on something else
Need extra time to adjust when plans suddenly change
To a neurotypical person, an autistic individual might seem rude or unempathetic for ignoring a question, or be perceived as irrational for getting upset when having to switch a task, yet what looks like an overreaction from the outside may actually reflect how difficult it is to pull attention out of one place and redirect it somewhere else. This mismatch in understanding between a neurotypical and an autistic brain is described as “the double empathy problem” and can mean both autistic and neurotypical people may struggle to accurately interpret each other’s intentions or emotions. This is why it’s so important for us to increase awareness of different brain styles and ways of experiencing the world.
Monotropism, ADHD, and AuDHD
Although monotropism is often discussed in relation to the autistic experience, many people with ADHD also report monotropic thinking. In fact, one research study involving 1,110 participants found that both autism and ADHD were independently associated with higher monotropism scores, and that autistic and ADHD (AuDHD) participants had the highest average score in the dataset.
While ADHD is often associated with distractibility and difficulty concentrating, it’s important to remember that ADHD involves difficulty regulating attention, rather than a total inability to focus. Prolonged concentration or “hyperfocus” is actually commonly reported by people with ADHD, particularly when an activity is interesting or highly engaging.
In one particular article on Monotropism.org by Dinah Murray’s son Fergus Murray and counsellor Sonny Hallett, the authors suggest that ADHD and autism may even be different expressions of a partly shared monotropic attentional style, with other factors determining whether somebody appears more “autistic”, more “ADHD”, or both. However, they make it clear that more research needs to be done in order to investigate this.
Like all neurodiverse experiences, the way monotropism presents in work and study can differ from person to person. With that said, if you relate to a monotropic attention style, you might identify with the following:
Getting completely absorbed in a task: Starting an essay or project and suddenly realising hours have passed.
Struggling to switch tasks: Finding it very hard to move on from something you are deeply focused on.
Finding interruptions disruptive: When disrupted by a question, notification, or unexpected change, it breaks your concentration and makes it hard to get back into the same flow.
Producing highly detailed work: Spending hours researching or refining your work, especially if it deeply interests you.
Finding uninteresting tasks harder to start: Struggling to focus on work that feels repetitive or unrelated to your interests.
Forgetting basic needs while focused: Missing lunch, forgetting to drink, or working beyond your usual stopping time.
Finding multitasking overwhelming: Intense difficulty following a conversation while taking notes, answering messages while working, or juggling several instructions at the same time.
Preferring uninterrupted blocks of time: Working best when you can focus on one task without having to constantly switch between different demands.
If the monotropic behaviours mentioned above feel familiar to you, it’s a good idea to communicate this with your manager or lecturer. That way, they can help you to work with your monotropism rather than against it.
For Employers and Educators: Supporting Monotropic Attention Styles
When it comes to work and education, supporting monotropic attention styles can help others to make the most of their strengths, while reducing unnecessary cognitive strain. Instead of viewing monotropism as a flaw that gets in the way of task completion, try to treat it as an advantage. Not only is this a more neuroaffirming view, but it can also improve the quality of someone’s work by allowing them to focus in the way that comes most naturally to them.
Working with, not against, monotropism means:
Protecting uninterrupted focus time
One qualitative survey looking at the impact of “flow” on autistic individuals showed that many autistic people find flow states helpful for regulating sensory experiences and improving wellbeing. By prioritising uninterrupted focus time in a quiet, low‑demand environment, you remove the stress and anxiety associated with constant disruption and give employees the chance to settle into a calm concentration state.
Allowing people to specialise
Giving staff or students the option to specialise in one thing, instead of encouraging them to become “Jacks of all trades”, allows them to deepen their knowledge in a specific area and, ultimately, contribute at a much higher level. Although it’s sometimes more difficult to facilitate this in education due to course restrictions and mandatory modules, workplaces often have greater flexibility to shape roles around individual strengths. Approaches such as job carving, where certain duties are reassigned or a role is tailored to make better use of a person’s particular skills, can allow autistic employees to focus on the areas in which they are most effective rather than being held back by tasks that aren’t central to the role.
Rethinking requests than involve multitasking
It’s not uncommon for employers and educators to innocently make requests that involve multitasking or task switching. For example, you might ask staff or students to take notes during meetings or lectures, or expect them to monitor different screens or dashboards at once. However, according to the theory of monotropism, individuals who suit a “one at a time” approach are far more likely to become overwhelmed by this. Instead, try to offer alternatives. Why not encourage the use of automated note-taking software, find ways to cut back on the need for tabs or software, or reduce the number of tasks expected in a day? Providing other options gives people a way to stay focused without sacrificing the quality of their work.
FAQs
What is monotropism in autism?
Monotropism is the theory that autistic people are more likely to concentrate their attention intensely on one or a small number of things at a time, rather than spreading their attention across lots of different tasks or demands.
Who came up with the theory of monotropism?
The theory of monotropism was developed by autistic researchers Dinah Murray and Wenn Lawson, with important contributions from Mike Lesser. The three formally set out the theory in their 2005 paper: Attention, Monotropism and the Diagnostic Criteria for Autism.
Is monotropism the same as hyperfocus?
Hyperfocus and monotropism are related but not the same. Hyperfocus describes a period of intense concentration on a particular activity, whereas monotropism is a broader theory about how attention tends to be distributed. Someone with a monotropic attention style may experience hyperfocus, but the two terms are distinct.
How is monotropism different in ADHD and autism?
We don’t yet know exactly how monotropism differs between ADHD and autism. Research suggests that both autistic people and people with ADHD can experience monotropic attention, but more research is needed to understand whether it presents differently in each condition.
Rich is one of the Founders and Directors here at CareScribe. Rich has a passion for healthcare and assistive technology and has been innovating in this space for the last decade, developing market leading assistive technology that’s changing the lives of clients around the globe.
Our Products
Levelling the playing field for people with disabilities.
Our small but mighty team builds leading-edge software that people love. We pride ourselves on a user-led approach to product design. The voice of the customer shapes what we create and that’s exactly how great assistive tech should be made.
