abstract:Hyperfocus is an intense form of mental concentration or visualization that focuses consciousness on a subject, topic, or task. In some individuals, some subjects or topics may also tend toward including daydreams, concepts, fiction, the imagination, and other objects of the mind.
When you're tense, you get a rush of brain chemicals, like norepinephrine and cortisol, that cause you to hyperfocus "like a deer in the headlights, " says psychologist Lucy Jo Palladino.