Reflex, Automatic, and Unconscious Cerebration: A History and a Criticism

Abstract

An Essay in the Journal of Mental Science for October, 1875, entitled, “Can Unconscious Cerebration be Proved ?” by Dr. Ireland, Superintendent of the Institution for the Education of Imbeciles at Larbert, ends thus:—“In any case the theory of ‘unconscious cerebration’ derives no support from physiology. It is a child of the old metaphysics, to be brought forward and repelled by the study and analysis of mental operations, cognisable by internal examination.”

A short history of ideo-motor action

“…Therefore he postulated the existence of ''ideagenic'' and ''kinetic substrates'' in the encephalon. The ideagenic substrate can be activated when a patient imagines a cup 1 According to Wozniak (1999) other members of this research group were: Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783-1862), Robert Dunn (1799-1877), Henry Holland (1788-1873), Thomas Laycock (1812-1876) John Daniel Morell (1816-1891), and Daniel Noble (1810-1885. 2 In the history of psychology the conception of physiological psychology is usually ascribed to Wilhelm Wundt (1873Wundt ( /1874).…”

“…In addition to Carpenter, one other member of this research group is of special interest. Thomas Laycock (1812-1876 was developing concepts about the reflex function of the brain as well as the automatic release of reflexes through ideas, which were essentially taken over by Carpenter. Alongside Carpenter, James primarily refers to Lotze (1817Lotze ( -1881 and Harless (1820Harless ( -1862. By doing so he mentions the German origin of the ideo-motor theory.…”

“…This resulted in an ongoing dispute concerning authorship between the two (cf Carpenter, 1871;Laycock, 1860Laycock, , 1876…”

The Case of the Missing Defendant: Medical Testimony in Trials of the Unconscious

“…Pursuant to this hypothesis-known in the medical literature as the "ideo-motor principal of action"-an idea could act directly on motor processes, bypassing the mental processes of refection and volition. 21 The intriguing question that seems not to have concerned the jury was where the idea for the assault might have originated, and why the offender bore no responsibility for Eigen 181 harboring the thought of violence, even if tucked away in the unconscious. Instead, juries appear to have concentrated on the mechanics-not the meaning-of nonvolitional action, and in this context they were able to draw upon the popular vogue of theatrical hypnotists and salon mesmerizers, who routinely demonstrated the bare essentials of command and behavior.…”

The Physiology of Mind, the Unity of Nature, and the Moral Order in Victorian Thought

“…Mind, considered as cause, and consciousness were held to be identical'. 32 Laycock had held that such metaphysics was useless to his concern in formalizing the relationship between neural and psychic dis-order. In seeking an alternative model he had reached the conclusion that: the brain being a congerie of ganglia, did not differ in its laws of action from the outer ganglia of the nervous system; and in particular, that like the spinal ganglia, it was subject to the laws of reflex action.…”