A recent article on Scientific American.com talks about a
cognitive phenomenon we have all experienced but may not have had a name for.
The idea is that something we were thinking about hours or
days ago remains unresolved and so our unconscious keeps picking at it. At some point, a small cue, even one we might
not be aware of, triggers it into active memory and we get a “mind-pop.”
They usually appear when we are doing something routine,
boring, or otherwise takes very little of our attention. So there is a lot of capacity left over for
our brain to get back to picking at the unresolved issue. And then all of a sudden – mind pop.
The research that the article cites suggests that “super-primers”
who have mind-pops more often than the rest of us are better problem-solvers
and more creative.
I don’t think I experience these enough to be a
super-primer, although the article also says that often we are unaware when
they happen. But it is good to have a
name for it.
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