Conscious contents as reflexive processes: Evidence from the habituation of high-level cognitions - PubMed (original) (raw)

Conscious contents as reflexive processes: Evidence from the habituation of high-level cognitions

Sabrina Bhangal et al. Conscious Cogn. 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Reflexes are often insuppressible, predictable, and susceptible to external control. In contrast, conscious thoughts have been regarded as whimsical, 'offline,' and shielded from external control. Recent advances suggest that conscious thoughts are more reflex-like and susceptible to external control than previously thought. In one paradigm, high-level conscious thoughts (subvocalizations) are triggered by external control, as a function of external stimuli and experimenter-induced action sets. It has been hypothesized that these conscious contents are activated involuntarily and in a reflex-like manner. If such is the case, then these activations should possess a well-known property of the reflex: habituation. Accordingly, we found that involuntary high-level cognitions (subvocalizations) habituated (i.e., were less likely to arise) after repeated stimulation. As in the case of the habituation of a reflex, this novel effect was stimulus-specific. We discuss the implications of this finding for theories about consciousness and about psychopathological phenomena involving undesired, involuntary cognitions.

Keywords: Habituation; Involuntary cognitions; Ironic processing; Mind wandering; Reflexive Imagery Task.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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