Neurodivergent glossary
Literal Thinking
Processing language at face value—taking words to mean exactly what they say, which isn't a comprehension failure but a different default setting for how language is decoded.
What it means
Literal thinking is the tendency to process language at face value, interpreting words and phrases according to their direct meaning rather than their implied or figurative meaning. When someone says "I'll be there in a second," a literal thinker may genuinely expect them in one second. When someone says "break a leg," the literal response might be confusion or concern.
This is a common autistic trait, and it's not about intelligence or language ability. Many autistic people have extensive vocabularies and sophisticated understanding of language—the difference is in the default processing mode. Where neurotypical brains automatically scan for subtext, sarcasm, idiom, and implied meaning, autistic brains often process the surface meaning first and require conscious effort to access the layer underneath.
Literal thinking can be both a challenge and a strength. It causes miscommunication when figurative language is assumed to be understood. But it also produces clarity, precision, and an ability to notice when language is being used imprecisely or deceptively. Many autistic people develop a secondary skill in figurative language through study and experience—they learn the idioms, master sarcasm detection, and build a mental database of non-literal phrases. But the default remains literal, and energy is required to override it.
In practice
What this can look like
- Your boss says "let's table this discussion." You look for a table. Or you understand the idiom but it takes an extra beat of processing—a delay that's invisible to everyone else but costs you cognitive energy across dozens of such phrases every day.
- Your friend says "I could eat a horse" and you don't think they literally plan to eat a horse—but your brain briefly considers the image before catching up. The figurative meaning arrives, just on a slight delay.
Context
Community note
Many autistic people have a complicated relationship with literal thinking—it causes enough miscommunication to be frustrating, but it also produces a directness and precision in their own speech that they value. The goal isn't to "fix" literal thinking; it's to build bridges between communication styles.
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