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One is surprised when first learning that most of the sophisticated and intelligent processes in the brain are unconscious. For example, the brain's motor-programs and intersensory processes, as well as the sophisticated actions of the digestive tract, pupils, and respiratory system, and of the 'dorsal pathway' in the brain, are all largely unconscious. These processes are far from dumb or inflexible. When one speaks, one is unconscious of the motor codes telling the lips, jaw, and mouth to move the way that they do. These things are so unconscious that it is often only from reading textbooks about linguistics that one realizes that, regarding what is going on in the mouth, /b/ and /p/ are articulated in the same manner (both are bilabial stops), and so are /d/ and /t/, and /g/ and /k/.
Similarly, one is unconscious of the complicated programs that calculate which muscles should be activated at a given time, but is often aware of their proprioceptive and perceptual consequences (e.g., perceiving a finger flex). It has been proposed by the great William James that action guidance and action knowledge are limited to perceptual-like 'representations' of action outcomes (e.g., the ‘image’ of one’s finger flexing), with the motor programs/events actually responsible for enacting the actions being unconscious. Similar accounts have been proposed by contemporary action researchers (e.g., Greenwald, Prinz, and Hommel). Interestingly, it is these perceptual-like representation that constitute that which is consciously accessible in normal action, dreams, and when observing the actions of others. For example, it is the phonological representation (and not, say, the motor-related, articulatory code) that one is conscious of during both spoken and subvocalized speech (when one speaks in one's head), or when perceiving the speech of others. James proposed that the conscious mind later uses these conscious perceptual-like representations to voluntarily guide the generation of motor efference, which itself is
an unconscious process. But all the real work and heavy lifting of catching a ball--by getting these but not those muscles to contract--is largely unconscious. If these unconscious mechanisms are so intelligent and capable, then why is it necessary for us to be consciously aware of any process in the brain? One answer is that consciousness is not for motor control but for a higher level of action control (click here for more).
To learn more about Ezequiel Morsella's research and books, please visit his lab's website, the Action and Consciousness Lab.
