In a message dated 12/24/08 12:08:52 PM, [email protected] writes:
> I don't think we can talk anymore of sequential process in consciousness, > cognition, etc. We may invent a sequence to sort out something complex but > our brains are operating on multiple neuron-firing sequences simultaneously. So > in the end to say we respond emotionally first or last is meaningless > (except maybe in subconscious brain stem activity. > This is interesting. Say I turn my head just to check the traffic at the very moment a car is rushing toward me. I would have thought that what would follow would be, first, realization of what was happening, and only then fright. The "realization" need not be "conscious". (I'm open to the idea that the subconscious does lots of processing and "thought" before the thought becomes conscious. It seems obvious to me that that's what's happening when I try to remember, say, a movie actor's name: I'm sitting there mumbling, what the hell's his name, and suddenly -- pop! there it is in my larynx, or in a visualization of the letters of his name.) What isn't clear to me how/why my subconscious could/would be frightened until after it had processed the threat. Have you read of convincing neurological research that the realization and the fright are unquestionably simultaneous -- as distinguished from simply being separated by such a tiny time-interval that current machinery can't discern it? When I put some requests to Google the response seems "instantaneous", but we know an immense amount of "searching" must have taken place. ************** One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolc om00000025)
