My son does this all the time, but I think part of his giftedness is the ability to be of a singular intent. Also, there is a tendency to be less aware of the bigger space around. I think these factor strongly into stereotypes of a lack of common sense, the absent-minded professor, etc. However, he can read people, is sensitive, friendly, etc. Unless his mind is elsewhere.
Sometimes, I can remind him to be in the here and now. Personally I use things like analyzing people, wondering about what they are thinking, and such to keep my focus. We also talk about effort, intent, and interest. Like, "if you want more friends, you need to intentionally interact with people; be flexible in your interests; pay attention to them and not just your agenda; or the next thing you are about to do" etc.
Here's an interesting study discussing a strong correlation between intelligence and spatial suppression.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3702042/
