Why does the solution to a problem you’ve been stuck with, sometimes come to mind all of a sudden? Is my mind working on it “behind the scenes” without me “knowing”?

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I like to develop games as a hobby, and therefore usually encounter a lot of programming challenges, in other words: features i want to implement but dont really know how.

Ocasionally i spend a lot of time try to solve it, without success, and then, usually in the next couple of days, the thought containing the correct solution will suddenly appear in my mind, without me consciously focusing or even thinking about that topic.

What happened? Did my mind keep working on it, without me even “knowing” and then presented the solution?

Thanks!

In: Biology

7 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

someone correct me if i’m wrong, but i’ve seen this exact question answered a long time ago

basically, we’re really good at pattern recognition. Like, extremely good. That’s why we see faces in everything. It used to be an evolutionary trait, that helped us survive

Brain always works behind the scenes. It’s just – not always consciously. When you have a problem, and you can’t resolve it, you put it away for a while. Your brain meanwhile sees the problem in everyday situation.

Your car broke down, and you have a problem, because you need to get someplace. You have no idea how to fix that problem, so for now, you forget about it.

But then, all of a sudden, you see a chain. Your brain behind the scenes go: “hey, a chain! you know what else has a chain? a bike.” then you connect the dots, because chain-> bike -> way of transportation -> hey, i need a way of transportation!

so you probably saw something mildly connected to the problem you were having, and your brain connected the dots for you. You didn’t SPECIFICALLY think about it, but something in your brain made that small connection

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