thanks to hvass (the link is to a paywalled site), the basic idea is: - some tasks require "lateral thinking". the example given is: what joins the words "lic

thanks to hvass (the link is to a paywalled site), the basic idea is: - some tasks require "lateral thinking". the example given is: what joins the words "lick", "sprinkle", "mine"? maybe lateral thinking is the wrong expression, but the idea is that the solution requires making connections from unrelated "semantic areas" - people guess that the brain has a network-like approach where "activation" starts at nodes associated with the different concepts ("sprinkle", etc) and slowly spreads outwards, until, presumably, all three growing (glowing? ;o) areas meet at "salt". - sleep helps for these tasks, but not for easier ones.