Another thing I would like to know is why certain things become special interests to people. Is it based on attachment, fixation, obsession, sustained attention, self-stimulation, self-soothing, or some other psychological or biological process? Further, is it something that's learned or is it innate? For example, I've seen children at work who come in on their first day and instantly attach to a book or stuffed animal, even to the point of naming it and making the stuffed animal take it's own turn while playing a board game. However, my special interests have started out as broad topics that I was interested in and became increasingly more narrow and specific the more I learned about them. So, I would be very interested to know what processes lead to one's special interests and what function they perform for the individual engaging in them.