mental cube

[Deleted member 36445]

Can you mentalize a cube and make moves in it? And how well can you do that?

For example, if you see an alg, can you do the moves in your head?

Or can you write down an alg for a PLL or other algset, or a solution to a cross just by seeing the case, by doing the moves in your head or by doing the fingertricks in the air with an imaginary cube?

In other "sports" like chess, people can predict lots of moves ahead... how well can you predict moves, and have a good knowlege of how the cube turns in your head?

Can you imagine where a piece will end after a few moves? and after a dozen moves? and after some dozen of moves?

People solve complicated math with a mental abacus... how much can we visualize a cube in our mind in a similar fashion, and do you do something like that in any way?

Is there any book or youtube video on this subject, with techniques we could use to improve visualization and prediction? Please suggest any and give suggestions.

I'm studying about visualization because it is something that I find very interesting and lately before going to sleep I like to mentaly play some game like Super Mario World, Sonic 3 or Tony Hawk's Pro skater 2, by imagining the first levels in my mind and even doing the moves in a imaginary controller with my fingers, and a lot of information is there, like the physics, the graphics, the sounds, the level details and geometry and the feelings that I had the first times I played.

our brain is amazing

 

[caleb_g]

i can do a solve lol, my brain will just make up the next f2l pair i'd see and those are the only pieces i see, then a oll and a pll its kinda cool

 

[ProStar]

Aphantasia go brrr. Anything that would typically be related to visual memory I have to use rote memorization for. It’s probably why I have a good memory overall, but anything visual-based I’m average at best. My verbal memory in particular is very good.

 

[Deleted member 36445]

Aphantasia go brrr. Anything that would typically be related to visual memory I have to use rote memorization for. It’s probably why I have a good memory overall, but anything visual-based I’m average at best. My verbal memory in particular is very good.

sadj

my verbal memory is awful, I usually do pauses in the middle of sentences because I forget words

but people use to say I have a "photographic memory"

Eidetic memory - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I don't believe that's my case, but I can recall lots of details other people normally don't notice for a long time after seeing something

but congrats for your verbal memory, that is a very important type of memory that I wanted to have

 

[Deleted member 36445]

these videos are really interesting...

 

[randomness...]

Mental cube is my favorite way to keep sharp on EO

 

[Garf]

I imagine different big cube cases while I'm in the shower. As I clean myself, I think about the different way centers and edges pair together lol.

 

[Deleted member 36445]

I remember that when I learned to solve the 3x3 I was on the bus and started to meditate on how the 2x2 worked

Because when I tried to use a 2x2 on a simulator I couldn't understand it. People often say the 2x2 is harder than a 3x3 when they look at it

But then I started to mess with a 2x2 in my head and I figured I could just solve like a normal cube but that just had corners

then I got home and solved it for the first time

 

[randomness...]

I use a mental cube to practice EO, and to speedcheck my recognition for algs or sets I know

 

[bldcuber314]

I thought of better alternative M2 setup moves(the ones with wide moves) while at school, had tested it mentally but only tried it when I got back. They seemed too good to be true, but worked in my head- they actually worked!

Edit: Also I sometimes train CLLs in my head, which actually works pretty well.

 

[Curunír]

I have total visual aphantasia (and all other senses except sound), so imagining a 3D puzzle rotating in my mind is not possible for me

 

[Garf]

I have total visual aphantasia (and all other senses except sound), so imagining a 3D puzzle rotating in my mind is not possible for me

Is that why you’re so good at BLD?

 

[Jorian Meeuse]

I have total visual aphantasia (and all other senses except sound), so imagining a 3D puzzle rotating in my mind is not possible for me

Wow, that seems like it would make learning 3-style a nightmare. Do you have to learn your comms in a way that you just know what alg to do based on the letter pair only, because you can't visualise where the letters are on the cube?

 

[Curunír]

Wow, that seems like it would make learning 3-style a nightmare. Do you have to learn your comms in a way that you just know what alg to do based on the letter pair only, because you can't visualise where the letters are on the cube?

It is a bit difficult for cancelling, but comms I just know where pieces are in relation to other pieces.
same as I know that in my house the fridge is next to a window.
basically I have to process it as a thought to remember where it is.

 

[ruffleduck]

I can play full chess games in my head with no problem. Despite there being fewer pieces and "squares" on the 3x3 than on a chessboard, I find it more difficult to visualize. I can see moves and immediately identify best fingertricks in my head, but am inconsistent in tracking all the pieces permutation/orientation besides in F2L

 

[Spencer131]

this reminds me of speed bld, where you spend a long time inspecting and then do bld with a normal sighted method

 

[abunickabhi]

How much effort Yiheng has taken to have a perfect mental cube in his head?

 

[abunickabhi]

I can play full chess games in my head with no problem. Despite there being fewer pieces and "squares" on the 3x3 than on a chessboard, I find it more difficult to visualize. I can see moves and immediately identify best fingertricks in my head, but am inconsistent in tracking all the pieces permutation/orientation besides in F2L

Interesting point raised. I can do chess BLD easily as well.

But chess BLD and CFOP BLD are completely different things.

 

[abunickabhi]

these videos are really interesting...

Video is not visible yo,

For some reason.

 

[ProStar]

I can play full chess games in my head with no problem. Despite there being fewer pieces and "squares" on the 3x3 than on a chessboard, I find it more difficult to visualize. I can see moves and immediately identify best fingertricks in my head, but am inconsistent in tracking all the pieces permutation/orientation besides in F2L

2d vs 3d visualization; even though there’s more squares than stickers, trying to perfectly imagine something in 3d space is significantly harder than tracking a glorified spreadsheet