Hi Rigsy and All - I'm sorry, but I have studied the structure of mind for decades, and to really understand it is a bit technical. Let me start by saying this: the question is not about the subconscious so much as about consciousness. What is consciousness? It is akin to what is visible on your screen right now, as opposed to all the stuff stored on your hard disk, or all the background processes running on your computer of which you are unaware. Consciousness is simply the set of thoughts currently bubbled to the top of your mind. We can only pay attention to so much at any given time, so thoughts compete for our consciousness. For instance, the average person can retain seven "chunks" of verbal information at a time. If you add an eighth, the least powerful is replaced. This is why telephone numbers have a dash in them - it breaks them into two chunks, a hopefully familiar exchange number, and a four digit extension that hopefully will have some pattern that makes it into fewer than four extra chunks, and why 800 numbers so often try to turn their numbers into a word or two to make them more memorable. In general, for different types of thought, we have a limited number of pigeonholes to use at any given time.
Thoughts are stimulated all the time, and when they come from outside they are conscious, or they aren't thoughts. Every time an idea enters consciousness, associated ideas in memory are stimulated. If their level of stimulation exceeds that of something already in consciousness, that conscious idea is replaced by the newly stimulated one. When there is a lot of input, the mind becomes more selective by upping it's threshold level so ideas have to compete more. When you go to sleep without a lot of stimulation, your threshold gradually decreases until thoughts that haven't been able to achieve consciousness finally do, and in turn stimulate other thoughts. This is the mechanism for dreams. We are essentially doing garbage collection, filing away the thoughts of the day and clearing our mental palette for another day's input. That is why people kept up for days may function fine doing tasks that require no memory, but will forget anything new almost immediately. This kind of association of thoughts is unconscious. It happens behind the scenes. What we are conscious of are only the thoughts that are most stimulated. As an example of association, say I say "red, fruit, tree". What do you think of? The three ideas are each related to many other ideas, but together they usually result in one: apple. So, if you talk about red things, and about fruit, and about trees, but not at the same time, the idea of "apple" will probably be stimulated, but not enough to compete for consciousness, at least until you are less stimulated and dreaming. These associations are the stuff of creativity and imagination, of innovations and internal discoveries, and often bizarre and seemingly nonsensical dreams where things seem to be connected in ways not common in reality. Okay I've blabbed enough now. Sweet dreams, Tony On Jul 14, 7:46 am, rigsy03 <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes- that is too technical for me. :-) I see the sc as the hidden > currents of a river- at least this morning that's my view. Where do > you think imagination and creativity spring from? Or unexplainable > moods? Or the irrational? Don't be too technical, please. > > On Jul 14, 3:36 am, paradox <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Interesting psychoanalytic approach; i'm sort of a little closer to > > the "technical" school; seems to me that dreams and phantasies are > > pretty much the same "stuff" as conscious thought, but without the > > coherence, constraints, and "echolocation" of input, cognition, and > > the autobiographical self; in that sense, we think (neural mapping) > > pretty much 24/7, conscious, subconscious, or otherwise; it's just so > > much more elegant when we're conscious, or daydreaming, curiously :). > > > Re the "great conductor"; in this great cauldron of distributed > > mapping, something has to "direct" and prioritise attention; that's > > the job of dispositional affect (value), or emotion, through amygdala, > > hippocampus, and associated wide area networks. Antonio Damasio has > > produced some very interesting, very readable and easily accessible > > works in this area. > > > On Jul 13, 1:51 pm, rigsy03 <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > The "great conductor" to where? The sc may color our thoughts and > > > actions but I have a problem giving it a thought process similar to > > > the ego or super-ego. The fact that we cannot control our sc makes us > > > want to control it- it can be dangerous or embarassing or distracting, > > > for instance. I do think it adds a dramatic complexity to our thoughts > > > and actions- esp. those "Freudian slips"! :-) Another possibilty is > > > that the sc is a warehouse for our unresolved selves that pitch and > > > twist in our minds during dreams or daydreams and sometimes influence > > > solutions by interrupting logic, problem solving, comprehension or > > > relationships. It may also serve the purpose of keeping us honest- > > > somehow the mind has to find a balance- "acting as if" only goes so > > > far. > > > > On Jul 13, 5:13 am, paradox <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Hi Mando, dont forget that our thoughts are also "merely things", and > > > > our sub-conscious also "thinks"; "emotion" is the great conductor. > > > > > On Jul 12, 2:18 pm, Mando <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > how are we easily swayed from our thought by merely things? is that > > > > > humans are focused or controlled by the sub-conscious...- Hide quoted > > > > > text - > > > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text -
