Are there precise terms for sensory overstimulation regarding Autism?
I'd never thought I had a problem with overstimulation, but I've read many people with Autism don't if they can reasonably ignore the stimulation around them. They don't have a problem until they need to sort the information towards a useful purpose, then things can go awry.
For example, an interviewee in Nerenberg's The Neurodivergent Mind says she actually enjoys the random sights and sounds at a busy grocery store if she's just walking around killing time. If she has to look for an item in an unfamiliar area and the store is empty and crowded, she's fine. If she actually has to focus on where she is, navigate to the unfamiliar area, search for the item in question then the sensory environment becomes too much. That's exactly my experience.
I was wondering if there's research on merely being in an overstimulating environment vs. having to use information within that environment and a useful way to sort out one from the other in research.
