My experience: intuitive thinking it's a shortcut, but it's less reliable when it comes to complex problems, especially involving multiple concepts that have to be reasoned about with non trivial relationships or rules. In a way I see a spectrum of approaches that range from fast to reliable:
1. Intuitive thinking
2. Language based internal monologue
3. Written scratchpad
4. Explaining the problem to another person until they understand it (rubber ducking)
1. Intuitive thinking
2. Language based internal monologue
3. Written scratchpad
4. Explaining the problem to another person until they understand it (rubber ducking)