Yes It Can, 2.0: New frontiers in the study of the human unconscious

Recently I proposed a framework for thinking about the abilities of the human unconscious. The proposed view – Yes It Can (YIC) – is couched in evolutionary considerations, and in the capacity limitations of conscious processes. Taking these as my point of departure, I proposed that consciousness does not have a unique cognitive function. Put differently, every fundamental, basic level function that can be carried out by conscious processes, can also be carried out by unconscious processes. I will present this view, as well as old, new and very new data, from various sub-disciplines of the cognitive sciences. I will then present two new lines of research, that go well beyond YIC. In the first we examine how unconscious processes determine conscious phenomenology. In the second, we begin engaging in verbal conversations with the human unconscious.