title: Conscious contents as reflexive processes: Evidence from the habituation of high-level cognitions.
abstract: Reflexes are often insuppressible, predictable, and susceptible to external control. In contrast, conscious thoughts have been regarded as whimsical, 'offline,' and shielded from external control. Recent advances suggest that conscious thoughts are more reflex-like and susceptible to external control than previously thought. In one paradigm, high-level conscious thoughts (subvocalizations) are triggered by external control, as a function of external stimuli and experimenter-induced action sets. It has been hypothesized that these conscious contents are activated involuntarily and in a reflex-like manner. If such is the case, then these activations should possess a well-known property of the reflex: habituation. Accordingly, we found that involuntary high-level cognitions (subvocalizations) habituated (i.e., were less likely to arise) after repeated stimulation. As in the case of the habituation of a reflex, this novel effect was stimulus-specific. We discuss the implications of this finding for theories about consciousness and about psychopathological phenomena involving undesired, involuntary cognitions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, United States.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhangal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, United States.
authors.forename: Allison K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, United States.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Geisler
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, United States; Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, United States. Electronic address: morsella@sfsu.edu.
authors.forename: Ezequiel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Morsella
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology*; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Habituation; Involuntary cognitions; Ironic processing; Mind wandering; Reflexive Imagery Task