"This caused me to create a theory that I had a strong skill at certain sorts of learning based on pattern matching, and that overuse of this skill had stunted other learning skills. I told myself that I'd look out for opportunities to solve problems without using this kind of approach."
This, albeit in the inverse in your example, is a theory of dyslexia that Ronald D. Davis wrote about in The Gift of Dyslexia.
Basically, he argued dyslexics grow up with the ability to infer from juxtaposition - or intuition as I believe he calls it - and as this ability is quite powerful they use it in place of and to the detriment of more language-orientated skills.
In your case, it seems that you were gifted with more language-orientated skills from the outset. This, from what I can tell, meant you focused on the textual representation of the '*' operator instead of its context-specific functionality.
It's very laudable that you've managed to overcome your weakness through an emphasis on your cognition. It's something I have set about doing, but in the inverse as I come from the other end of the spectrum.
Thanks for detailing your experience. It was very enlightening.
This, albeit in the inverse in your example, is a theory of dyslexia that Ronald D. Davis wrote about in The Gift of Dyslexia.
Basically, he argued dyslexics grow up with the ability to infer from juxtaposition - or intuition as I believe he calls it - and as this ability is quite powerful they use it in place of and to the detriment of more language-orientated skills.
In your case, it seems that you were gifted with more language-orientated skills from the outset. This, from what I can tell, meant you focused on the textual representation of the '*' operator instead of its context-specific functionality.
It's very laudable that you've managed to overcome your weakness through an emphasis on your cognition. It's something I have set about doing, but in the inverse as I come from the other end of the spectrum.
Thanks for detailing your experience. It was very enlightening.