A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information Load

Unconscious Thought Theory (Dijksterhuis, 2004) states that thinking about a complex problem unconsciously can result in better solutions than conscious deliberation. We take a fresh look at the cognitive processes underlying “unconscious” thought by analyzing data of 822 participants who worked on a complex apartment-evaluation task in three experiments. This task’s information-presentation and evaluation parts were separated by different kinds of filler-interval activities, which corresponded to standard conscious-thought and unconscious-thought manipulations. Employing experience-sampling methods, we obtained thought reports during and after filler-interval engagement. Evidence concerning the existence of the Unconscious Thought Effect was mixed, with such an effect being present in the first two experiments only. In these experiments, we further found less problem deliberation to be associated with better performance on the apartment task. Interestingly, this benefit disappeared when we probed participants’ thoughts during the filler interval. We suggested that explicit thought awareness diminishes the Unconscious Thought Effect.

Coherent lower and upper conditional previsions defined by Hausdorff inner and outer measures to represent the role of conscious and unconscious thought in human decision making

The model of coherent lower and upper conditional previsions, based on Hausdorff inner and outer measures, is proposed to represent the preference orderings and the equivalences, respectively assigned by the conscious and unconscious thought in human decision making under uncertainty. Complexity of partial information is represented by the Hausdorff dimension of the conditioning event. When the events, that describe the decision problem, are measurable is represented to the s-dimensional Hausdorff outer measure, where s is the Hausdorff dimension of the conditioning event, an optimal decision can be reached. The model is applied and discussed in Linda’s Problem and the conjunction fallacy is resolved.

Creativity and the unconscious in the screenwriting classroom: A review of the literature

Screenwriting pedagogy is a small but growing field of scholarly enquiry grappling with the challenges of a writing mode that demands a high level of creativity in order to render complex human experiences in a visual form bound by industrialized structures. Prominent screenwriters argue that engagement with unconscious thought is critical to achieving the high level of creativity required for this kind of writing. However, the unconscious remains a neglected area of enquiry in the fields of creativity and screenwriting research. This review of literature corrals existing research in both fields to synthesize insights for screenwriting and creative writing teachers on the engagement of unconscious thought as a means to enhance students’ creativity.

Toward the Perception of Subjective Expression

The idea of artistic expression as an outward manifestation of the self arose in literature and philosophy at least two generations before it came to be applied to music. Lyric poetry in particular provided a conceptual model for perceiving art as a form of autobiography; Goethe and Wordsworth encouraged such a reading of their works. In the meantime, philosophers were questioning the very nature of the self, and particularly the unconscious, which is to say, the primordial self. They began to recognize that while the unconscious might defy observation, its products could provide indirect evidence of its workings, and they regarded artworks as a synthesis of conscious and unconscious thought and as such capable of offering at least an occluded window onto the nature of the true inner self.

LA FUNZIONE INTERPRETATIVA DEL PENSIERO ‘PARLANTE’ E L’INCONSCIO COGNITIVO

Macchi and Bagassi propose a conception of mind bounded by the qualitative constraint of relevance at conscious and unconscious levels. The core of this conception is an interpretative function in language and thought as adaptive characteristic of the human cognitive system. This perspective is supported by evidence from the authors' research on insight problem solving, which they consider a privileged route to understanding what kind of special unconscious thought produces the solution. During incubation, in the absence of conscious control, relevance constraint allows multilayered thinking to discover a new interpretation of the data that finally offers an exit from the impasse. The authors speculate that the creative act of restructuring implies a form of high-level unconscious thought, the unconscious analytic thought.

LA FUNZIONE INTERPRETATIVA DEL PENSIERO ‘PARLANTE’ E L’INCONSCIO COGNITIVO

Macchi and Bagassi propose a conception of mind bounded by the qualitative constraint of relevance at conscious and unconscious levels. The core of this conception is an interpretative function in language and thought as adaptive characteristic of the human cognitive system. This perspective is supported by evidence from the authors' research on insight problem solving, which they consider a privileged route to understanding what kind of special unconscious thought produces the solution. During incubation, in the absence of conscious control, relevance constraint allows multilayered thinking to discover a new interpretation of the data that finally offers an exit from the impasse. The authors speculate that the creative act of restructuring implies a form of high-level unconscious thought, the unconscious analytic thought.

Genuine Triadicity in Computation, Cognition and Consciousness

Charles Peirce insisted that representation is a genuine three-part relation, irreducible to a complex of two-part relations. Demonstrations that two-part relations (like stimulus and response) can be described as three-part are chaff in the wind. Ironically, Peirce’s well-known description in semiotic language of sunflowers makes that error. Until recently, there was scant reason to speak of “sign” – in its full Peircean sense – in biology, computation, or even for unconscious thought. Current developments in computation and animal behavior suggest that triadic relations could be inherent in some classes of their operations, but this article does not find that possibility demonstrated. Instead, the argument is advanced that we should recognize a distinct theory of data (cybernetics) as adequate to describe the role of information in primitive lifeforms. Thus, we adopt definitions that do not support the proposal associated with (though not originating with) Thomas Sebeok, that life and semiosis are coextensive.