[JackFr]

The best math professor I ever had was a fantastic instructor because he had in head a catalog of wrong mental models and could nearly immediately grasp where a student might have taken a wrong turn and try to get them on the right path.

(It was a graduate level real analysis course, and people who had been calculus whizzes were struggling with point set topology proofs.)

[jononor]

Wow that sounds like a real superpower in that setting. I have met many that have very strong visualization/conceptualization skills in things like 3d, mechanical, color/looks, code and electronics - but for other peoples mental models that one was new to me. The closest I can remember would be some sales people I met who are also chess players, they could "play" in their heads a range of different scenarios of interactions in a sales conversation - many levels deep. And would do it, especially if/when stakes where high. In the blink of a second. It would take them muuuch longer to just answer me a few questions on why they thought "C" was the best way to open, and then make sure to get in point "E" (or "G") before proposing "K".