Cognitive aspects of the unconscious

Authors

  • Rafael Raffaelli

Abstract

Psychoanalysis should be considered a cognitive theory, as expressed in The Interpretations of Dreams, and in the works of close collaborators to Freud, as Ferenczi. The experimental analysis of the role of the day residues in the elaboration of dreams, conducted initially by Pötzl in 1917, opened a new field of research. In the 50's many researchers began to work with subliminal perception (subception) in psychoanalytic bases. Nowadays, there is a crescent interest in the cognitive study of the unconscious, which may be considered an integrating concept. The experimental studies on preconscious perception have a link with the cognitive studies on inattentional blindness. The methodology and some of the practical implications of those studies are analyzed in brief.

Published

2003-01-01

Issue

Section

Articles