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The Unconscious Mind

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Abstract

This chapter describes recent evidence that there is a limit of consciousness that presents a barrier between conscious and unconscious processes. The barrier is likely specifically related to disturbances of integrative neural mechanisms that through distributed brain processing linked to attentional mechanisms and memory enable integrative conscious experience to be formed. According to recent findings a level of conscious integration may change during certain conditions related to experimental cognitive manipulations, hypnosis or stressful experiences, which can lead to dissociation of consciousness. In this context, dissociation of consciousness likely presents a deficit in the global distribution of information that may result in a heightened level of independent neural processes and complexity in the brain.

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  1. Center for Neuropsychiatric Research of Traumatic Stress and Department of Psychiatry, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Petr Bob

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Bob, P. (2012). The Unconscious Mind. In: Brain, Mind and Consciousness. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0436-1_5

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