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 <rigs...@gmail.com> 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 <eadohe...@hotmail.com> 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 <rigs...@gmail.com> 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 <eadohe...@hotmail.com> 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 <richsu...@gmail.com> 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 -
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