Some Functions of the Subconscious Mind
The concious mind
The conscious mind contains all of the thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which
we are aware at any given moment . This is the aspect of our mental processing
that we can think and talk about rationally. This also includes our memory,
which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily and
brought into awareness. This is done
using the preconscious...
Consciousness
has the ability to orchestrate thought and action in accordance with internal
goals, active maintenance of patterns of activity that represent goals and the
means to achieve them[1].
Consciousness is not
critical for performing simple, automatic behaviors, such as our tendency to
automatically orient to an unexpected sound or movement. However,these
behaviors are inflexible, stereotyped reactions elicited by just the right
stimulus. They do not generalize well to novel situations, and they take
extensive time and experience to develop[1].
Consciousness is important
when “top-down” processing is needed; that is, when behavior must be guided by
internal states or intentions[1].
Consciousness’s cognitive control and goal-directed behavior has the
ability to select a weaker, task-relevant response (or source of information)
in the face of competition from an otherwise stronger, but task-irrelevant one[1].
The unconscious mind
The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that is outside
of our conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are
unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict.
The cerebellum (which has
traditionally been associated with motor functions) is also heavily involved
with memorized information, stored facts, learned skills, and procedures. It is
a super high-speed co-processor for the brain, and appears to be the seat of
unconscious intelligence." It is particularly involved with the execution
of automatized cognitive processes. The cerebellum does not operate at the
normal level of consciousness but rather at an unconscious level[2].
Our conscious thinking,
perceiving, and learning accounts for only a small fraction of our total mental
activity, with the rest being entirely
nonconscious. Our minds are
also similarly proficient at multitasking; while we are busy
experiencing a portion of what is going on around us, our minds are busy
absorbing much of the rest of what is present in our environment[3].
Our conscious minds work much
more slowly than our nonconscious minds, and are overall less adept at processing information, less
efficient at the task. The nonconscious
mind is active every waking moment of our lives, and we
would be more or less incapable of understanding the world around us without
it. We are unable to consciously
access all the information for a reason—it would get so completely overwhelming
that we would be distracted past the point of functioning quickly [3].
The
preconscious/subconscious mind
The preconscious/subconscious consists of
anything that could potentially be brought into the conscious mind. Subconscious
defines all reactions and automatic actions we can become aware of if we think
about them(car driving).
Freud likened
the three levels of mind to an
iceberg. The top of the iceberg that you can see above the water represents the
conscious mind. The part of the iceberg that is submerged below the water but
is still visible is the preconscious. The bulk of the iceberg that lies unseen
beneath the waterline represents the unconscious.
The subconscious
is the transition between unconscious and conscious. It is an interface with which conscious
communicates with the unconscious. It
also helps to hide the plethora of information/feelings etc. that reside in the
unconscious.
Subconscious is an interface for the conscious to access the unconscious. When we cannot remember something
immediately, it pops up in our mind after a while if we make a small
brake. It is the subconscious which has
requested and retrieved it from the unconscious and it returns the answer to
the conscious with a pop up.
Epilog
The success in creating or performance
depends on the personal balance in using not only consciouness but also
unconcious capabilities of the mind. Being
skilled in interacting with subconscious mind may greatly enhance this personal
success.
REFERENCES:
[1] Earl K. Miller, Jonathan D. Cohen;
AN INTEGRATIVE THEORY OF PREFRONTAL CORTEX FUNCTION, Center for Learning
and Memory, RIKEN-MIT Neuroscience Research Center and Department of Brain and
Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Center for the Study of
Brain, Mind, and Behavior and Department of Psychology, Princeton University.
[2] Gregory Mitchell;
The Cognitive Unconscious
