Other experiments have seemed to suggest that mental events follow physical events -- playing catch-up as it were (at speeds which make them feel simultaneous). The discernible brain activity might actually precede the thoughts, might even be triggering the thoughts. Or the brain activity might be the same as the thoughts. ...Eerie...Eerie...
The ideas that these experiments confirm have been around for quite some time. A fairly recent example is the following, ------------------------- Marcus, George E., W. Russell Neuman, and Michael MacKuen Affective Intelligence and Political Judgment. 200 p., 19 line drawings, 22 tables. 6 x 9 2000 Cloth $55.00sc ISBN: 978-0-226-50468-1 (ISBN-10: 0-226-50468-9) Fall 2000 Paper $19.00sp ISBN: 978-0-226-50469-8 (ISBN-10: 0-226-50469-7) Fall 2000 Although the rational choice approach toward political behavior has been severely criticized, its adherents claim that competing models have failed to offer a more scientific model of political decisionmaking. This measured but provocative book offers precisely that: an alternative way of understanding political behavior based on cognitive research. The authors draw on research in neuroscience, physiology, and experimental psychology to conceptualize habit and reason as two mental states that interact in a delicate, highly functional balance controlled by emotion. Applying this approach to more than fifteen years of election results, they shed light on a wide range of political behavior, including party identification, symbolic politics, and negative campaigning. ------------------------------------- The notion that conscious thought is preceded by and only partially captures pre-conscious processes is, of course, implicit in Freud. The earliest instance that I can cite ,however, is Leibniz's _New Essays on Human Understanding_, where Leibniz observes that anyone awakened by the ringing of a bell must have heard the bell before becoming consciously aware of it. Cheers, John -- John McCreery The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN Tel. +81-45-314-9324 http://www.wordworks.jp/ ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html