"Hare Brain Tortoise Mind" is a great book that goes into how this works and how to work with/against it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB_4YU6UtCw

tldr: There is a background, non-verbal process in your brain that has the advantage of a larger working set size than your foreground verbal thinking. It is able to observe and consider more stuff at once and find associations better than your conscious thought process.

But, it has several disadvantages. It takes time to do its processing. You can't will it into action. It communicates non-verbally with your foreground process. It doesn't work under pressure (thus the need for relaxed, unfocused time). The non-verbal understanding is difficult to deconstruct, generalize and reapply. It can lead to you solving a problem, not understanding how and not being able to solve a variant of the same problem.

So, the general recommendation is: If you have a complex problem to solve, first absorb as much information about the problem as your brain can hold. But, do not try to solve anything. Then, go take a break. A walk in a natural environment is preferable. Don’t think about the problem. Relax in a low stress environment. Let your background brain have a chance to chew on it and maybe bubble up some suggestions.

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Dilettante_ 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There's a Paul Graham essay I happen to have read just the other day about this topic. In it, he refers to this concept as "ambient thought", though I've found the title, "The Top Idea in Your Mind" to be a more sticky "motto" to remind me of the concept.

->https://www.paulgraham.com/top.html

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3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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paraknight 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Does this background process have any neurological backing (literally a part of your brain) or is it more of a mental mode?

	▲	james_marks 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Literally part of the brain. Limbic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_system Frontal Lobe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_lobe Disclaimer: I only know this from armchair psychology books like Habit, Start with Why, etc.

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markussss 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Thanks for the link and tl;dr, even though it's a quite short video (3:16). I found your explanation very interesting because I have intuitively felt like this is accurate, but never knew what the underlying process is. I have been following this for years already, first absorbing information about anything where I need to make a decision, and then just leave it to stew in the back of my mind. And after a while the answer just appears in my mind, without me really understanding where it comes from.

	▲	pramodbiligiri 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I’ve heard this being discussed as focused and diffuse modes of thinking - https://fs.blog/focused-diffuse-thinking/ - although not in relation to verbal and non-verbal thinking.