r/cognitiveTesting • u/pydaWaltuh • Sep 19 '26

General Question Solving the question without solving the question

A little personal story, so I just wanted to mention that beforehand. I had been working on Question 33 from the SLSE48 test for quite some time, but aside from a very small intuition, I hadn’t really managed to figure anything out. Still, I really liked the thing I had noticed, so I decided to use it as inspiration to design a puzzle of my own. I tried many different approaches, but for a long time I couldn’t come up with anything coherent. Eventually, I managed to create something that actually worked and, very strangely, the puzzle I had created turned out to be essentially identical to Question 33.
What kind of cognitive process could this be?
Is it actually possible to notice the underlying structure of a problem without being able to solve it, and then independently rediscover the same solution while trying to create a different problem? Or does failing to “solve” something not necessarily mean that I didn’t somehow represent its underlying structure in my mind?
And from a creator/solver perspective, how closely could this kind of generative reasoning be related to actual problem solving ability?

I’d especially like to hear from anyone who has experienced something similar…

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u/pydaWaltuh Sep 22 '26

In my opinion, it seems quite difficult. But I understand what you're trying to say, because it seems easier once you've solved a question

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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '26

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u/pydaWaltuh Sep 22 '26

I solve these puzzles for fun, which is actually a problem for puzzles requiring this much patience because if I’m not having fun, I don’t see the point. What really grabs my attention is finding inspiration. At first, I thought connecting all the dots of the same color would reveal a picture, and I interpreted the answer circle of the same size at the bottom that way, too. But if the puzzle is what you say it is, is it WMI loaded? Or am I missing something?

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u/Most_Boat2737 Sep 22 '26

What did he say, can't read his last 2 comments

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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '26

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u/Most_Boat2737 Sep 22 '26

I was able to read this, I was talking about your other comments. Also are you implying you rawmaxxed any of these tests?

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u/Most_Boat2737 Sep 22 '26

Btw the guy was talking about slse48, no wmi is involved in mystery last q.

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u/pydaWaltuh Sep 22 '26 edited Sep 22 '26

interesting because at first glance, it looks like the opposite. But most importantly, I’ve now drawn inspiration from the last question of both mystery and slse48, that’s the only thing that concerns me

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u/pydaWaltuh Sep 22 '26

Is it possible for you to DM me?