The Subconscious Quartet: A Neural Framework for Execution, Automaticity, and Flow

We describe parallel neural processing that operates below awareness, governs execution, and automaticity. We propose a processing hierarchy distinguishing conscious processing from subconscious processing, bounded below by states in which neither reportable experience nor directed voluntary execution is present (deep surgical anesthesia, coma). We identify four systems as the subconscious infrastructure for skilled execution and flow states. Three execution systems and one gate whose suppression enables them, the cerebellum, basal ganglia, hippocampus, and locus coeruleus. During flow, the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and locus coeruleus are active while the hippocampus is suppressed; we propose that…