In our highly monotropic family, we humorously but also seriously say, “Stop yanking my tendrils!” when someone crashes our stack during high memory state zone work. Interruptions are very dysregulating when they pull us out of an attention tunnel.
“Tendrils” comes from “Tendril Theory”.
When I’m focused on something
Tendril Theory – eisforerin
My mind sends out a million tendrils of thought
Expands into all of the thoughts & feelings
When I need to switch tasks
I must retract all of the tendrils of my mind
This takes some time
Eventually I can shift to the new task
But when I am interrupted or must switch abruptly
It feels like all of the tendrils are being ripped out
That’s why I don’t react well
Please just give me time
To switch tasks when I’m ready.
I came up with “Tendril Theory” when someone in a support group asked for a good way to explain executive function, specifically the challenge of being interrupted or having to switch tasks suddenly, to a neurotypical person. The image and words came to me all at once. It took me a few weeks to sit down and draw it.
I think the reason this resonates with so many people is that a lot of different kinds of brains work in a similar way – not only for autistic people, but also people with ADHD, and neurotypical introverts. So if this doesn’t describe you, it probably describes someone you know.
Tendril Theory is very relatable to monotropic minds that enter attention tunnels and flow states.
When focused like this an Autistic person can enter a ‘flow state‘ which can bring great joy and satisfaction to the person experiencing it.
However it can make switching between tasks and other transitions difficult.
Monotropism
In a monotropic mind, fewer interests tend to be aroused at any time, and they attract more of our processing resources, making it harder to deal with things outside of our current attention tunnel.
Me and Monotropism: A unified theory of autism | The Psychologist
I think of working memory in terms of tendrils (like plants) and stacks (like computer science). I have mental models in stacks that can be easily toppled by the outside universe. Those stacks grow like tendrils. The amount of load is the length and number of stacks/tendrils.
I am very tooled up to manage my stacks/tendrils. My favorite tool is the clipboard manager Paste.
Here is a screenshot of it.
Paste does many things for me, including function as my working memory. I copy things into Paste to serve as stack markers. Paste has “pinboards”. I create pinboards for tendrils/stacks I’m growing/building at the moment. To these pinboards, I drop bits of context along the way, breadcrumbs to reconstruct memory.
I often just blank out while working, all my tendrils shrivel and my stacks collapse. I’ll switch contexts, try to add to the stack, and then poof, I forget where I was at and what I was doing. In that situation, I pop open Paste and re-orient.
Get a clipboard manager!
That’s my number 1 piece of advice to everyone who uses a computer. Get a clipboard manager. Use a clipboard manager to keep, search, and organize everything you copy on all of your devices. Clipboard managers facilitate flow states, attention tunnels, contextual computing, workflow thinking, and working memory.
The idea, in a nutshell, of contextual computing is removing all barriers between thought and action.
Mac Power Users #569: Contextual Computing – Relay FM
It is far better to jump straight from thought (I want to see the shrink ray project) to execution (looking at the shrink ray project) without the intervening steps of navigating through an app. This eliminates the possibility of distraction. So the trick is to find ways not to open apps, but specific data sets within apps to avoid further distraction.
.Linking and Contextual Computing — MacSparky
Table of Contents
We Need Flow States
Entering flow states – or attention tunnels – is a necessary coping strategy for many of us.
Many people with autism are stressed individuals who find the world a confusing place (Vermeulen, 2013). So how does someone with autism achieve a sense of flow? McDonnell & Milton (2014) have argued that many repetitive activities may achieve a flow state. One obvious area where flow can be achieved is when engaging in special interests. Special interests allow people to become absorbed in an area that gives them specialist knowledge and a sense of achievement. In addition, certain repetitive tasks can help people achieve a flow like state of mind. These tasks can become absorbing and are an important part of people’s lives. The next time you see an individual with autism engaging in a repetitive task (like stacking Lego or playing a computer game), remember that these are not in themselves negative activities, they may well be reducing stress.
If you want to improve your supports to people with autism from a stress perspective, a useful tool is to identify flow states for that person and try to develop a flow plan. Remember, the next time you see a person repeating seemingly meaningless behaviours, do not assume that this is always unpleasant for them – it might be a flow state, and beneficial for reducing stress.
What is ‘flow’?
We need flow states. Don’t tug us out of flow states. Don’t cut our tendrils.
The Costs of Interruptions
If you imagine that an autistic kid at school is likely to be wrenched out of their attention tunnel multiple times every day, each time leading to disorientation and deep discomfort, you are on your way to understanding why school environments can be so stressful for many autistic students. If you can avoid contributing to that, you may find that you have an easier time with your autistic students: try entering into their attention tunnel when you can, rather than tugging them out of it. Parallel play is one powerful tool for this; start where the child is, show interest in what they’re focused on. If you do need to pull them out of whatever they’re focusing on, it’s best to give them a bit of time.
Craft, Flow and Cognitive Styles
Monotropic minds need caves, deep spaces for deep work where interruptions don’t rip out the tendrils of high memory state work.
One of the more interesting ideas emerging from attention capital theory is the surprising role environment can play in supporting elite cognitive performance.
Professional writers seem to be at the cutting edge of this experimentation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the near future, we start to see more serious attention paid to constructing seriously deep spaces as our economy shifts towards increasingly demanding knowledge work.
Simon Winchester’s Writing Barn – Study Hacks – Cal Newport
The costs of interruptions have been studied in office environments. An interrupted task is estimated to take twice as long and contain twice as many errors as uninterrupted tasks (Czerwinski:04). Workers have to work in a fragmented state as 57% of tasks are interrupted (Mark:05).
For programmers, there is less evidence of the effects and prevalence of interruptions. Typically, the number that gets tossed around for getting back into the “zone” is at least 15 minutes after an interruption. Interviews with programmers produce a similiar number (vanSolingen:98). Nevertheless, numerous figures have weighed in: Paul Graham stresses the differences between a maker’s schedule and manager’s schedule. Jason Fried says the office is where we go to get interrupted.
Based on a analysis of 10,000 programming sessions recorded from 86 programmers using Eclipse and Visual Studio and a survey of 414 programmers (Parnin:10), we found:
- A programmer takes between 10-15 minutes to start editing code after resuming work from an interruption.
- When interrupted during an edit of a method, only 10% of times did a programmer resume work in less than a minute.
Research shows that the worst time to interrupt anyone is when they have the highest memory load. Using neural correlates for memory load, such as pupillometry, studies have shown that interruptions during peak loads cause the biggest disruption(Iqbal:04).
Programmer Interrupted
People need roughly 23 minutes to go back to their tasks after a major interruption, but the plot deepens if you’re a programmer. Add at least 10 minutes to the forced break (the minimum amount of time you need to start editing code again) and there you go — that’s a solid half hour you lose whenever someone approaches you. It gets worse if that interruption is planned.
They also found out that the worst time to be interrupted is when you have the highest memory load. The silver lining of being interrupted comes into play when the person can either suspend their working state or reach a “good breakpoint” —this way the impact can be reduced. However, transitioning from a high memory state to a low memory state takes about seven minutes, so the interruption is (almost) never without consequences.
And it’s gone —The true cost of interruptions
Leave a Reply