LawrenceC comments on On learning difficult things - Less Wrong

77 Post author: So8res 11 November 2013 11:35PM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 11 November 2013 03:41:02PM *  6 points [-]

I felt fully awake and ready to keep reading. And I did keep reading. It just… didn't work. I'd have trouble following simple proofs. I'd fail at parsing sentences that were quite clear after resting.

When that happens, I can usually study something else of similar difficulty without similar impairment, just not this particular topic (the effect persists for a few hours). This could be interpreted as getting bored with the topic (at System 1 level).

Comment author: LawrenceC 01 February 2015 05:13:26PM 0 points [-]

I've definitely noticed this happening. However, I think this is more "brain generates a temporary ugh field for the textbook" than being bored with the subject - when I swap to a different textbook on the same subject, I can often understand what's going on and do the exercises.