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Language is not essential for the cognitive processes that underlie thought

(www.scientificamerican.com)
549 points orcul | 1 comments | 17 Oct 24 12:10 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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orwin ◴[19 Oct 24 23:24 UTC] No.41891613[source]▶
I will add an anecdata, then ask a question.

I could enter what we all here call the "Zone" quite often when i was young (once while doing math :D). I still can, but rarely on purpose, and rarely while coding. I have a lot of experience in this state, and i can clearly say that a marker of entering the zone is that your thoughts are not "limited" by language anymore and the impression of clarity and really fast thinking. This is why i never thought that language was required for thinking.

Now the question: would it be possible to scan the brain of people while they enter the zone? I know it isn't a state you can reach on command, but isn't it worth to try? understand the mechanism of this state? And maybe understand where our thought start?

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1. soared ◴[21 Oct 24 02:53 UTC] No.41900274[source]▶
I also wonder - is the flow state for work the same as the flow state in other domains? IE team sports flow state is very similar - actions flow smoothly and feel automatic. Flow state in cycling feels really similar, but doesn’t create the same outputs.