This morning I was trying to remember the name of an old movie I used to watch when I was a child. I could have easily found it online with a few keywords but I wanted to see how long it'll take for me to remember it organically.
So there I was trying really hard to connect the dots from some fragments of memory up to the movie title. I easily spent 10 minutes to no avail. I gave up. Went to do some chores. And there it was, an hour later, the full title popping in my mind.
Somehow I'm impressed that it kept searching while I was busy doing some other stuff.
Yeah it's fascinating. In my very unscientific mental model for cognition, there's a distinction between "active" and "passive" mental operations. "Active" is anything requiring intention - when you "push" with your mind - like for instance when you are writing code or doing your taxes or building a piece of furniture. It's analytical and requires effort.
"Passive" is when you let your brain solve a problem. For instance when you have that idea in the shower, or think of that movie title when you're folding laundry.
There are problems recalling that distant fact, or the act of creativity which can't be solved actively, and the process of trying to brute force it with effort actually runs counter to reaching a solution.
This morning I was trying to remember the name of an old movie I used to watch when I was a child. I could have easily found it online with a few keywords but I wanted to see how long it'll take for me to remember it organically.
So there I was trying really hard to connect the dots from some fragments of memory up to the movie title. I easily spent 10 minutes to no avail. I gave up. Went to do some chores. And there it was, an hour later, the full title popping in my mind.
Somehow I'm impressed that it kept searching while I was busy doing some other stuff.