> What are even the tasks where thinking makes humans worse?

Not really related, but athletes perform A LOT worse when they are thinking about their movements/strategies/tactics. A top performing athlete does best when they are in a flow state, where they don't think about anything and just let their body/muscle memory do the work.

Once you start thinking about micro-adjustments (e.g. I should lift my elbow higher), you start controlling your body in a conscious way, which is a magnitude slower and less coordinated than the automatic/subconscious way.

Also, same happens for creativity/new ideas. If you intentionally think about something, step by step, you won't likely find new, innovative solutions. There is a reason why the "a-ha!" moments come in the shower, your subconscious mind is thinking about the problem instead of trying to force your thinking on a specific path.

I would guess this happens in many other areas, where channelling the thought process through a specific template hinders the ability to use all the available resources/brain power.

The answer is in the article. One example they give is grammar. Lots of people apparently do worse once they try to verbalize it.

I can think myself into forgetting strong passwords if I try to spell each character out in my head. But then I sit at a keyboard, relax, and automatically type it perfectly.

Muscle memory or something like it hardly seems a step towards AGI. Or towards solving any difficult problems.

And?