Conscious thoughts from reflex-like processes: A new experimental paradigm for consciousness research

External control of the stream of consciousness: Stimulus-based effects on involuntary thought sequences

“…However, past theorizing and recent experimentation (e.g., Allen et al, 2013) reveals that such thoughts can be triggered into existence by external stimuli in a manner that is nontrivial, principled, reliable, and systematic. Our experiment builds on this past research by revealing how action sets can, when combined with certain forms of environmental stimulation, trigger not only the occurrence of a single conscious thought, but a sequence of two thoughts in the stream of consciousness.…”

“…At this stage of understanding, we will not pretend to understand all aspects of what occurs in this task, a task that involves the involuntary entry of high-level contents into consciousness (see discussion in Allen et al, 2013). For an investigation regarding the occurrence of conscious thoughts, it is impossible to avoid the technique of selfreport and its well-known limitations.…”

“…Despite these intuitions and prevalent theoretical views, some theorists (e.g., Freud, 1938;James, 1890;Miller, N.E., 1959;Vygotsky, 1962;Wegner, 1989) have proposed that conscious thoughts are more predictable and more tied to external influence than what might appear to be the case at first glance (see review in Allen, Wilkins, Gazzaley, & Morsella, 2013). Helmholtz (1856), for example, noted that conscious thoughts can arise from 'unconscious inferences' in a manner that http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2014.12.014 1053-8100/Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.…”

“…Participants inputted responses by computer keyboard. The stimuli (n = 52) were black-and-white line drawings of well-known objects that yield high name agreement and that had been used successfully in previous research (Allen et al, 2013;Morsella & Miozzo, 2002;Snodgrass & Vanderwart, 1980). The stimuli were displayed in the center of the screen with subtended visual angles of 9.1°Â 7.6°degrees (7.6 cm  6.4 cm).…”

“…The event is based on several component processes (Allen et al, 2013). For example, as outlined in Allen et al (2013), for the effect to arise, there is first the induction of set (e.g., to not subvocalize the name of visual objects). Second, the set must be held in memory during the time between the beginning of an experimental trial and the presentation of the object.…”