Neuroscience studies suggest that the subconscious mind primes itself to act before conscious awareness. Neuroscience researchers were able to predict basic choices participants made 11 seconds before they consciously declared their decisions. This clearly demonstrates the difference in time between a thought becoming conscious and thought put into practice.
This knowledge may give us the opportunity to consciously regulate our unconscious impulses. Lead author and cognitive neuroscience, Professor Pearson, says that executive areas of the brain choose the thought-trace which is stronger when a decision of what to think is about to be made. This might suggest that human bias, beliefs, narratives and experiences strongly influence when a decision is about to be made and therefore our choices. Pearson says that the brain is more likely to pick pre-existing brain activities that matches one of your choices. In his own words, ‘It seems that the brain gets boosted by that pre-existing brain activity’. Understandably, Pearson argues that thinking about something leads to more thoughts on the subject because it creates a ‘positive feedback loop’.
If this is true, we may be creating many subconscious ‘positive feedback loops’ without many positive results in our life. For instance, I could be thinking to walk away from bad habits and yet repeating the same choices over and over. Similarly, I can have internal and positive self-talk about choosing something different and yet the ‘pre-existing brain activity’ boosts my brain to choose what is familiar and stronger to it. While my subconscious mind and brain keep playing a ‘positive feedback loop’ my whole human system feels and think with my ‘pre-existing brain activity’.
The research suggests that traces of thoughts seems to exist unconsciously before they become conscious. Knowing what might be happening in the mind when we are thinking to choose something, might serve as an inspiration to become more observant of its process. Mostly, by observing what information and energy are feeding our traces of thoughts.
Perhaps, that might be enough to predict new basic choices that can lead us to more conscious free-will.
Annick Doza
Executive and Life Coach
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2 Responses to "The Free-will gap between consciousness and unconsciousness"
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I will make an effort to observe my thought process before the thought manifests consciously. I’m curious if now if I can try to direct more positive feed back loops. Thanks for writing about this neuroscience research.
Hi Donald,
I am happy to hear you enjoy this piece. We can certainly learn new things from practising something different and new. I encourage your curiosity to explore your way of directing more positive feedback loops! Have a great and positive day!