Monotropism and Cognitive Flow on Effects

As Autistic individuals, being monotropic is our default setting. This means monotropism will impact on our other cognitive states (either negatively in a way that reduces productivity or positively in ways that increase productivity), such as memory, processing, accessing a wide range of connected and unrelated information, executive functioning, central coherence, forward-thinking (this includes Object Permanence (OP)) interoception, and others. If we envisage monotropic attention as a highway flowing in one direction, but one with side roads that come off at various intersections, we can appreciate all its traffic (attention) is flowing one way with small signposts to those side roads. But, the signpost itself won’t explain the reasons for these so understanding the meanings may be missed or misunderstood (Lawson & Dombroski, 2017). If we label a couple of side roads that carry important traffic forward to a particular destination, we can better appreciate their importance. This chapter will seek to do this.