Cognitive tunneling is a psychological phenomenon where a person's attention narrows to a single point, ignoring all other information. This happens most often under high stress or during a sudden, unexpected event, causing a person's brain to transition from a relaxed state to a panicked, focused state that fixates on a narrow set of stimuli. This can lead to an inability to see the bigger picture, sometimes described as inattentional blindness, and is a common cause of errors in high-pressure situations, such as pilots or drivers missing crucial cues.
During the exam, I hit a tough question and fell into cognitive tunneling, completely missing the easier ones I had already skimmed over. Talk about stress messing with my focus!
by Emotional Cruiser November 4, 2025
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Man, Jeff just came out of the bathroom after eating 3 burritos for lunch and now I have to enter the toxic tunnel.
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by OldManMurray April 19, 2014
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(in terms of introspection) to look through one's soul as if it were a tunnel and see nothing but darkness and despair.
(in terms of introspection) to look through one's soul as if it were a tunnel and see nothing but darkness and despair.
depression and drug addiction are hard to treat because the depressed and the addicted often have tunnel vision when it comes to introspection. they sometimes for this reason feel misunderstood by the rest of society.
by Sexydimma March 18, 2013
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