This naturally leads to a simple question: why is there limited explicit research on an ostensibly common human cognitive and perceptual experience? An additional result is a paper that has developed a new questionnaire to assess hyperfocus experiences (Hupfeld, Abagis, & Shah, 2019). We also found 1 study that did not appear in our searches, but was cited in a couple of the papers cited above (Ozel-Kizil, 2013). Of these, 7 are empirical studies explicitly focused on assessing cognitive and neural states associated with hyperfocus (in ADHD: Sklar, 2013 Ozel-Kizil et al., 2013, 2016 in schizophrenia: Luck et al., 2014 Sawaki et al., 2017 Kreither et al., 2017 Hahn et al., 2016 Gray et al., 2014). A PubMed search for the same terms in the title or abstract returned 19 results. A Google Scholar search (excluding citations) for hyperfocus and variations of the term, namely “hyper-focus”, “hyper focus”, “hyperfocusing”, “hyper-focusing”, and “hyper focusing” in the title, returned 6 results. Despite the experience of hyperfocus being ubiquitous, in both neurotypical and psychiatric populations, there is very limited explicit academic research into its effect on cognitive and neural functioning. Although most neurotypical people would likely report experiencing a hyperfocus-like state at some point in their life, it is most often mentioned in the context of autism, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-conditions that have consequences on attentional abilities. An example of hyperfocus is when a child becomes engrossed in a video game to a point where they do not hear a parent calling their name. It is generally reported to occur when a person is engaged in an activity that is particularly fun or interesting. Hyperfocus, broadly and anecdotally speaking, is a phenomenon that reflects one’s complete absorption in a task, to a point where a person appears to completely ignore or ‘tune out’ everything else. We also propose an operational definition of hyperfocus for researchers to use moving forward. Using this foundation, we provide constructive criticism about previously used methods and analyses. In this paper, we review how hyperfocus (as well as possibly related phenomena) has been defined and measured, the challenges associated with hyperfocus research, and assess how hyperfocus affects both neurotypical and clinical populations. Moreover, some studies do not refer to hyperfocus by name, but describe processes that may be related. Thus, there is no single consensus to what constitutes hyperfocus.
In many cases, hyperfocus goes undefined, relying on the assumption that the reader inherently knows what it entails. Hyperfocus, though ostensibly self-explanatory, is poorly defined within the literature.
We propose that hyperfocus is a critically important aspect of cognition, particularly with regard to clinical populations, and that it warrants significant investigation. Hyperfocus is most often mentioned in the context of autism, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but research into its effect on cognitive and neural functioning is limited. ‘Hyperfocus’ is a phenomenon that reflects one’s complete absorption in a task, to a point where a person appears to completely ignore or ‘tune out’ everything else.
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