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#deck:Math::Learning to learn::Focused and diffuse
#tags:math learning focused-diffuse
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What is focused mode?	Paying close attention to one problem; small steps along trails you already know.	definition
What is diffuse mode?	A relaxed, wandering mind (walking, showering, doodling) that makes wide connections between ideas.	definition
Oakley's picture for the two modes	A pinball table: bumpers close together for focused, far apart for diffuse.	definition
Can you be in both modes at once?	No: one at a time, so learning goes back and forth between them.	mechanism
In the program, why do 1000 focused steps end where 3 did?	Both neighbours are lower; reaching the higher hill means first going downhill, which small uphill steps never do.	mechanism
Stuck on a problem: is the cure more effort?	Often not; change the step size (step back), not the effort.	trap
What does diffuse mode alone find in the program?	The right hill (score 80) but not its top (97): wide jumps miss the details.	mechanism
The order that reaches the answer in the program	Focus, step back for a wide survey, then focus again on the best spot.	mechanism
What is the Einstellung effect?	A first method or idea blocks a better one; Luchins's water-jar experiments, 1942.	evidence
What is incubation?	Setting a problem aside for a while and coming back; a 2009 review of 117 studies found a moderate benefit.	evidence
When does a break help most?	After a long spell of focused work on the problem: the diffuse mode works on what focus loaded.	mechanism
Poincaré's bus	After weeks stuck, the key idea came as he stepped onto a bus on a trip; he then checked it at his desk.	evidence
What is a Pomodoro?	25 minutes of phone-free focus, then a short reward that is truly different.	practice
Hard start, jump to easy	On a test, start a hard problem, switch to easy ones when stuck, then return.	practice
Why is a phone a bad break?	It is new focused work and fills the attention diffuse mode needs.	trap
Are focused and diffuse scientific terms?	No, teaching words; the default mode network is a loose match.	evidence
Is the focused/diffuse model a literal map of brain networks?	No: a teaching picture; the match to the task networks and the default mode network is loose.	evidence
Does curiosity before studying help memory?	Yes, good evidence (Gruber 2014); dopamine is the proposed mechanism, not the finding.	evidence
Why can't a stuck climber tell it is on the wrong hill?	The top of any hill has only lower neighbours, so a local peak feels exactly like the best one.	mechanism
What should be the signal to step back from a problem?	No progress for a while, not a feeling of being close.	practice