Much of what we think and do is thought and done by an unconscious part of the brain and inner zombie.

Whenever we act, it’s our conscious selves doing the acting. But starting in the late 1960 s, psychologists and neurologists started to find evidence that our self-aware part isn’t always in charge. Researchers discovered that we’re deeply influenced by perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and desires about which we’ve no awareness. Their research raised the worrying possibility that much of what we think and do is thought and done by an unconscious part of the brain and inner zombie. A few of the first evidence for this zombie came from studies of those who’d suffered brain injuries.

Studies of those who’d suffered brain injuries.

Some minutes later Warrington and Weiskrantz showed them the first 3 letters of every one of the words they’d just seen and forgotten and asked the amnesics to add some additional letters to make a word. Any word would do. The amnesiacs consistently chose the words they’d seen and forgotten, the interior zombie, somewhere beyond consciousness, retained memories of the words. Our inner zombies can also be capable to control our bodies. F. Suffered carbon monoxide poisoning and lost the capability to recognize objects and shapes. Her eyes were still relaying info to her brain, but the connections between regions of her brain had been damaged in order that she was no longer aware of what was before her. Scientists at the University of Western Ontario set a card on a table in front of D. 

And after that held up a disc with a slot in it. They asked D. To hold the card at the same angle as the slot. She couldn’t. But when asked to put the card in the slot as if she were sending a letter, she immediately and unknowingly turned the card to the correct angle and slipped it in. Nowadays a number of strong new tools can scrutinize the interior zombies in healthful brains. Earlier this year, a team of University of Copenhagen researchers reported rendering 11 healthful people momentarily blind by focusing a ray of magnetism at the rear of the subjects’ heads.

This interfered with the activity of neurons in a region called the visual cortex. For several minutes the neurons were deactivated, and the subjects reported that they couldn’t see anything. At the beginning of the experiment, the subjects who could see at this point in front of 3 lights, each with a button below it. When the center light went on, they’d to reach out their hand and press the button next to it. In some trials, the scientists turned off the center light just as the subjects began reaching, and turned on a different one. The subjects then had to shift their hand movement to press the correct button. Less than a 10th of a second after the light switch, though, the scientists hoped the subjects, instantly blinding them.