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Published online 9 February 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.88
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Hidden memories guide choices
Images slip unnoticed into the brain.
Memories that we are not aware of may be just as accurate as those we recall, researchers have found. And they might also provoke unique changes in the brain's electrical activity during recall.
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In realtion to Emotive reasoning I believe a great deal of implicit memory operates for the majority of humans when making choices and while it may appear that the choice was made in complete awareness more often than not is due to conditioning and stays hidden from concious view. Being dedicated to self introspection will eventually provide the awareness needed for authentic choice. Unfortunatly this doesn't seem to be a large concern nor is it cultivated.This would also allow for us to take a greater advantage of the freedom that we have in this country. I also think it would be beneficial that we teach the importance of self introspection in our school systems for it may turn out to be more valuable than what we currently believe the essential subject matter to be. Allowing for the mind to be less subjective may open avenues for increasing innovation.
I think something which seems to have been overlooked is the fact that, given a controlled set of circumstances, an individual will normally remember more data and more concrete, true date, when the subject is distracted; which seems to be the basic underlying issue with this study(it does state that the images were harder to remember, consciously though, not subconscious which is what we are looking for). Although I do not think the study is without merit, it would appear to me that further experimentation is necessary and under a different set of conditions. Perhaps, more along the lines of subliminal messages; flash up an image during a 5 minute clip, then after the clip is over, simply show the subject(s) a series of images, ask the subject which, if any, he/she observed while watching the clip. Boy, who doesn't love science!?