@[email protected] You reminded me of a really good moment in a sci-fi novel I like called Diaspora.

The main characters in that are all running in digital simulations. At one point a character has an idea on the tip of their tongue, an epiphany that almost reaches them and then vanishes.

So, they look over the map of their own digital neurons, play it back to when the idea was just beyond their reach, and can look and see what concepts were being stimulated but didn’t have quite enough activation to trip over to a full conscious thought.

Knowing the ballpark their own subconscious was hinting at gets them the rest of the way there! The idea comes in a flash! Ah-ha! Plot revelation!