you go for you an eye test, the Optician tells you that the irritating puff of air to the eye is preceded by a tone. If this is the case you will quickly learn to close your eyes when you hear the tone.
If the tone is immediately before the puff, then the learning can be done unconsciously (and in rabbits, done with much of the brain removed).
But if there’s a gap between tone and puff, then the conditioning will work only if you are conscious of the association between the two.
Conscious thought is a special-purpose tool, not just the feeling of being a living organism dealing with the world. Consciousness also has a discrete, on-or-off character.
An experience either ‘ignites’ the brain into conscious thought, or it doesn’t.
If the tone is immediately before the puff, then the learning can be done unconsciously (and in rabbits, done with much of the brain removed).
But if there’s a gap between tone and puff, then the conditioning will work only if you are conscious of the association between the two.
Conscious thought is a special-purpose tool, not just the feeling of being a living organism dealing with the world. Consciousness also has a discrete, on-or-off character.
An experience either ‘ignites’ the brain into conscious thought, or it doesn’t.
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