Help!

Yorkiechai

Experienced
Joined
May 11, 2018
Posts
51
My aging (aged) brain is challenged when it comes to vocabulary retrieval (much to my chagrin) and there is a phrase I cannot "access" at the moment.

What is the type of thinking called which happens when you are doing a routine task such as brushing your teeth or eating breakfast ( I think of it as thinking going on in the background while, often, creative thinking is going on in the foreground ).

Is it "route thinking"?

Thanks.
 
alpha (or zen) state


or maybe "autopilot"


or maybe "subconsciously" or even "unconsciously"


There are a lot of terms for that mental state when doing a task that has been done a thousand and one times, it just depends on the frame of reference for whom is discussing it in what context.

I hadn't heard "route thinking," although I have heard "unthinking."
 
Rote Thinking

was what I was looking for, but thank you for all who tried to help out. Ironically, it came to me when I stopped trying to retrieve the phrase and made myself a second cup of tea! In other words, engaging in rote thinking myself enabled my brain to access the vocabulary!
 
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