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A computer model for unconscious spread of anxiety‐linked inhibition in cognitive networks
Author(s) -
Blum Gerald S.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 0005-7940
DOI - 10.1002/bs.3830340103
Subject(s) - anagrams , cognition , psychology , context (archaeology) , unconscious mind , anxiety , action (physics) , cognitive psychology , connectionism , cognitive science , computer science , neuroscience , psychoanalysis , paleontology , physics , management , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , economics , biology , task (project management)
Unconscious inhibitory processes, triggered by a potential anxiety reaction, are reviewed in the context of an emerging rapprochement between psychodynamic and cognitive approaches in experimental psychology. Conditions underlying spread of inhibitory action to other cognitive networks are first explored in three tachistoscopic experiments utilizing words posthypnotically tied to a potential anxiety, pleasure, or neutral reaction. Response times of subjects, instructed to ignore those words while naming pictures or solving anagrams as quickly as possible, reveal a highly differentiated pattern of circumstances governing likelihood of inhibitory spread from anxietylinked words to target stimuli. Next a computer model is constructed to simulate cognitive processes from onset of display to eventual response, and the model is then tested for its fit to the empirical data. Finally, an illustrative study shows that a subset of computer‐generated predictions for spread of inhibitory action is verifiable experimentally.