Visual Thinking and Puzzles

The interesting part of these two puzzles is how both players did not even notice the number pattern. We both looked at the images as shapes, thinking that the lines were used somehow to solve the puzzle. We both noticed mirroring, too, but didn't notice that the images being mirrored were numbers. Our brains separated symbols we knew from these unknown symbols, instead of using knowledge we already had to solve the puzzle. Neither of us could solve this puzzle.

We both had very different strategies with this puzzle. I (the top one) tried to visualize each "E". That didn't work because it was nearly impossible to imagine the ones that were being intercepted by smaller "E"'s. My partner (the lower one) tried solving the puzzle with math. She noticed a grid, which we associate with math, and figured a simple equation would solve the puzzle. Again, we were both wrong.