Penny dropping

[scman]

Why is it that people can not understand something for a long time and then one day the penny drops and it all becomes perfectly clear, i have experienced this many times.I just cant fathom how one minute something is a blur and the next minute its not,does it have something to do with the brain firing more synapses or something.Ime not talking about something u learn slowly either i mean a concept or abstract thinking.

[Pinch Paxton]

I personally think that some of our thinking is done in the background without us being aware of it. A background task if you like.

 

Pincho.

[iglak]

also, often times we are taught things without learning the baics first. then, when we finally learn the basics, it's like finding the missing piece to the puzzle, we have an epiphany.

[aman]

Another interesting aspect of it is how this idea can pop in the heads of 2 or more individuals at the same time, countries apart. This happened quite a bit between the US and Europe pre 1960, even with the lack of communication devices it seemed some scientists and inventors brains were collaborating. You can see it in researched patent dates and papers.

I don't believe ideas and future achievements are lost because somebody dies before expressing them. Somebody else will have the same idea or improve on it.

The sum of intelligence in a group rises kinda exponentially with the addition of a genious. (Qualified with a "Maybe")

Just aman

[Glider]

Yes, yes and true.

 

Yes. A significant proportion of processing is done on a non-conscious level. An example is when you can't think of a word, but as soon as you forget about it, it pops into your head. If we're given information we can't assimilate easily, we continue to process it at a deep level, searching for a 'cognitive hook' to hang it on.

 

Yes. Many times the ability to find a 'hook' will depend on subsequent learning. Whilst we are mulling over the previous problem (although not aware of doing so), we are more sensitive to information in the environment that might pertain to that problem. Should something pertinent be presented, we try to match it to the previous information, and if it does, we have a 'eureka' moment (perhaps not exactly an epiphanous, life changing revelation) and can then put the problem to rest.

 

True. The James-Lange theory of emotion is a good example. Briefly, the theory proposes that emotion is the result of the autonomic changes associated with it (rather than the other way around). The interesting thing is that William James and Carl Lange lived in different countries when they came up with it, independently, but at the same time.

 

If you have more or less equally qalified brains (similar level, similar area, and working within the same or similar parameters), working on the same problem (where does emotion come from?), there is a high statistical probability that they will come up with more or less the same answer (albeit, in this case, the wrong answer) at more or less the same time, irrespective of location.

[Muffin]

Also, I read in this book about the left and right sides of the brain. The right side thinks in pictures and ideas, while the left side thinks in words and numbers. The right side is responsible for this leap of thought and understanding, but because there were no words or logical thinking involved, it seemed like it all happened by chance, or that it just dawned upon you.

[YT2095]

I`m kinda hoping that will happen to me in the "Math Twister" thread or Someone at least

 

Muffin, another neat part about that left and right hemisphere thing is that an experiment was done, whereby the volunteers had to speak on the telephone using either the right or left ear, then they were asked questions about the conversation afterwards, there was a remarkable difference as to the facts remembered between those using left or right ear, also the conversation was a little different with each