How does the brain solve tricky problems?
“The hypnagogic state is considered by many to be a genius state, without boundaries or any limitations.”
What happens in your brain when you try to solve a problem?
Knowing the answer can give you valuable insight into generating the optimal solution.
One person who intuitively knew how to get the best idea was the prolific inventor Thomas Edison.
He developed an unusual way of solving problems, relaxing in a comfortable chair with two large ball bearings in each hand suspended above a wooden floor.
As he started to fall asleep, the muscles in his arms would relax, and the heavy metal spheres would fall to the ground, making a loud noise.
This practice would jolt him from the semi-conscious state in which he found his mind produced the best solutions to whatever the current problem he was facing.
The flamboyant surrealist Salvador Dali developed a similar strategy by holding a spoon suspended above a tin plate on the floor.
And the writer Edgar Allen Poe cultivated the same state.
What motivated these idea-men to practice such odd behaviour?
Edison, Dali and Poe instinctively knew that we don’t solve difficult problems when in a conscious state.
Quite the opposite.
They knew what neuroscience later demonstrated: the subconscious plays a commanding role in problem-solving.
Your brain is most creative in its ‘hypnagogic’ state.
This is the dreamlike condition between wakefulness and sleep, where your mind drums up more expansive and unconventional thoughts.
It’s why you can suddenly resolve something you’ve been trying to work out while in the bath or at night.
Indeed, Russian chemist and inventor Dimitri Mendeleev saw the elements arrange themselves in what we now know as the periodic table.
It’s the so-called ‘eureka’ moment.
So, what exactly happens in the brain when problems are too big for our conscious mind to solve?
This article starts to shed some light on this mysterious matter.
To summarise, most complex problem-solving is solved by your unconscious mind; trying to solve a problem consciously can often be counterintuitive.
More often than not, significant breakthroughs occur when you’re not actively trying to solve the problem.
