Does your mind tend to blank out when you listen to directions? If so, why do you think this happens?

I ask because I think I might have a problem with this, and I want to discover the reason for it. I thought for a long time that I just wasn’t able to retain information on cooking and mechanics, because whenever people describe how they cook something or how a car works, my mind goes into an unfocused buzzing. Then I started thinking that I just don’t learn well in an auditory way – which I don’t; I retain things best when I read them. But now I think my two theories must both be partly true, in combination – that my trouble might hinge on listening specifically to directions. I think so because I noticed the other day, reading over my notes from class, that when my professor started telling us what to read for next week that my notes just stop for a moment, and then resume when he got back to the content of our discussion. Reviewing my memory of that class, I remember him starting to talk about next week’s reading, and then myself zoning out for a few minutes, and then snapping back into the moment suddenly.

Do any of you also tend to zone out when people give directions? Why do you think you do this? Care to extrapolate a theory on why this might be a common (or uncommon) phenomenon from your experience or lack thereof?