Editing Unconscious mind (section)

==Contemporary cognitive psychology==

===Research===
There is an extensive body of research in contemporary [[cognitive psychology]] devoted to mental activity that is not mediated by conscious awareness. Most of this research on unconscious processes has been done in the academic tradition of the information processing paradigm. The cognitive tradition of research into unconscious processes does not rely on the clinical observations and theoretical bases of the psychoanalytic tradition; instead it is mostly data driven. Cognitive research reveals that individuals automatically register and acquire more information than they are consciously aware of or can consciously remember and report.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Augusto, L.M. |title=Unconscious knowledge: A survey |journal=Advances in Cognitive Psychology |volume=6 |pages=116–141 |year=2010 |url=http://www.ac-psych.org/?id=2&rok=2010 |doi=10.2478/v10053-008-0081-5|pmid=21814538 |pmc=3101524 }}</ref>

Much research has focused on the differences between conscious and unconscious perception. There is evidence that whether something is consciously perceived depends both on the incoming stimulus (bottom up strength)<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Del Cul|first1=Antoine|last2=Baillet|first2=Sylvain|last3=Dehaene|first3=Stanislas|date=2007|editor-last=Posner|editor-first=Michael|title=Brain Dynamics Underlying the Nonlinear Threshold for Access to Consciousness|journal=PLOS Biology|language=en|volume=5|issue=10|pages=e260|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050260|issn=1545-7885|pmc=1988856|pmid=17896866 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and on top-down mechanisms like [[attention]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dehaene|first1=Stanislas|last2=Changeux|first2=Jean-Pierre|last3=Naccache|first3=Lionel|last4=Sackur|first4=Jérôme|last5=Sergent|first5=Claire|date=2006|title=Conscious, preconscious, and subliminal processing: a testable taxonomy|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1364661306000799|journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences|language=en|volume=10|issue=5|pages=204–211|doi=10.1016/j.tics.2006.03.007|pmid=16603406|s2cid=6053849}}</ref> Recent research indicates that some unconsciously perceived information can become consciously accessible if there is cumulative evidence. Similarly, content that would normally be conscious can become unconscious through inattention (e.g. in the [[attentional blink]]) or through distracting stimuli like [[visual masking]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pang|first1=Damian K. F.|last2=Elntib|first2=Stamatis|date=2021|title=Strongly masked content retained in memory made accessible through repetition|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=11|issue=1|pages=10284|doi=10.1038/s41598-021-89512-w|pmid=33986370|issn=2045-2322|pmc=8119432|bibcode=2021NatSR..1110284P}}</ref>

===Unconscious processing of information about frequency===
An extensive line of research conducted by Hasher and Zacks<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Hasher L, Zacks RT |title=Automatic processing of fundamental information: the case of frequency of occurrence |journal=Am Psychol |volume=39 |issue=12 |pages=1372–88 |date=December 1984 |pmid=6395744 |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.39.12.1372 }}</ref> has demonstrated that individuals register information about the frequency of events automatically (outside conscious awareness and without engaging conscious information processing resources). Moreover, perceivers do this unintentionally, truly "automatically", regardless of the instructions they receive, and regardless of the information processing goals they have. The ability to unconsciously and relatively accurately tally the frequency of events appears to have little or no relation to the individual's age,<ref name=Connolly>Connolly, Deborah Ann (1993). ''[http://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/636/ A developmental evaluation of frequency information in lists, scripts, and stories]'' (M.A. thesis) Wilfrid Laurier University</ref> education, intelligence, or personality. Thus it may represent one of the fundamental building blocks of human orientation in the environment and possibly the acquisition of [[procedural knowledge]] and experience, in general.