Chick (1998) described her cognitive processes as a research mathematician “not only
choosing the cues and concepts—and often unexpected cues and concepts—but even the
very question” [pp.17]. Senior secondary mathematics students discovering complexity
and spontaneously formulating their own questions exhibited characteristics of flow as they
worked with unfamiliar mathematical ideas to resolve their questions (Williams, 2000).
Csikszentmihalyi (1992) described flow as intense engagement where people lose all sense
of self, time, and the world around. He found necessary conditions for flow included
working autonomously just above the persons present skill level on a challenge almost out
of reach. Figure 1 above and Table 1 below relate Dreyfus, Hershkowitz and Schwarz’s
(2001) elements of abstraction, my categories of cognitive activities, the process of
discovering complexity (Williams, 2000) and Chick’s (1998) cognition as a mathematician.