The preconscious mind is a powerful force that lies just beneath the surface of our conscious awareness. It contains thoughts and feelings that we are not currently aware of, but can easily be brought to the forefront of our minds. Recent psychological studies have shown how even subtle signals can shape our learning, suggesting that conscious, subconscious, and unconscious thoughts can be modeled by varying the presentation time of emotional faces. This has led many to wonder if scientists can define the exact pathways for concepts as small and subtle as subconscious thinking. Though few of us have access to research laboratories and sufficient funding to conduct such studies, it doesn't mean that we can't tap into the power of the subconscious mind.
We can explore conscious and subconscious sensorimotor synchronization, prefrontal cortex and the influence of consciousness. The visible is the conscious, while what lies lower and deeper are the subconscious and unconscious. In one study, participants were asked to answer questions with a time limit, and it was found that even when given only half the time to answer correctly, they were still able to partially give correct answers - indicating the presence of the subconscious mind. In his book “The Gift of Fear”, author Gavin de Becker writes about how an individual's subconscious can process information and make him act out of fear, without him fully understanding why he acts that way. By understanding the meaning and concepts of the unconscious and subconscious, we can learn a great deal about ourselves.
All of our automatic movements are guided by one of the most powerful internal forces that drive human behavior: the subconscious mind (also commonly known as the unconscious mind). Buddhism has long recognized this concept, having a sophisticated theory of the mind that includes both conscious and subconscious elements. Though information stored in the subconscious or preconscious mind may not be on the surface, it is still accessible. Through introspection, we can gain insight into our subconscious motivations and impulses. We can also identify our behavior in a subconscious way.
