Your subconscious is smarter than you might think

Published: 18^th February 2015

Source:  Tom Stafford, BBC News

Link: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150217-how-smart-is-your-subconscious

Science field: Science & Environment, Brain, Neuroscience, Psychology

Summary

According to Tom Stafford we feel that we are in control when our brains figure out puzzles or read words, but an experiment has recently showed how much work is going on underneath the surface of our conscious minds.

It is a common mistake that we know our own minds. As I move around the world, walking and talking, I experience myself thinking thoughts. It is natural, but wrong to assume that this experience is a complete report of my mind.

All psychologists agree; there's an under-mind; an unconscious which does a lot of the heavy lifting in the process of thinking. Ex: when I decide to wiggle my fingers, they move back in a way that I didn't prepare, but it was delivered by the unconscious.

The big debate in psychology is exactly what is done by the unconscious, and what requires conscious thought.

A recent experiment by a team from Israel is against this position. Ran Hassin used a neat visual trick called Continuous Flash Suppression to put information into participants’ minds without them being consciously aware of it.

Continuous Flash Suppression uses light-bending glasses to show people different images in each eye; one eye gets a rapid succession of brightly coloured squares which are so distracting that when genuine information is presented to the other eye.

The amazing result is that participants were significantly quicker to read the target number if it was the right answer rather than a wrong one. This shows that the equation had been processed and solved by their minds.

Glossary:

-          Underneath: below the surface of; directly beneath, at the bottom of, under the control of; in a lower position than, hidden or disguised by.

-          Misconception: a false or mistaken view, opinion, or attitude.

-          Glimpse: a very brief passing look, sight, or view, a vague or incomplete idea; inkling, to look briefly at.

-          Neat: in a pleasingly orderly and clean condition, having a trim and graceful appearance, shape, style… cleverly effective; skilful.

Review

The technique used has taken advantage of the fact that we have two eyes and our brain usually attempts to fuse the two resulting images of a single view of the world. By this experiment we can understand how complicated is our mind and that our unconscious minds have more sophisticated capacities than we have never thought.

Written by Alba Pazos