We now know that this creative and productive multi-tasking occurs not just when we are awake, but also when we are asleep (especially during the REM state when we are dreaming). Brain imaging has revealed that while a large portion of our brain is shut down during most stages of sleep, the limbic system (site of our emotions as noted above) is active during the REM state, as are areas of our brain where secondary processing of sensory material takes place. The prefrontal cortex is among the areas of our brain that is shut down during most stages of sleep—and notably during REM sleep.  The conditions are thus perfect for the generation of emotions that are unbridled by the rational and restraining forces of the prefrontal cortex. These emotions, in turn, trigger the secondary sensory processing regions of the brain, creating images and sounds that reflect the tenor and directions of the emotions. Multi-tasking is occurring big time—some researchers have actually described the dreaming process as the convening of a committee during sleep (e.g. Barrett, 2010). This committee brings together many different perspectives and can, at times, produce brilliant and often-insightful solutions to problems we have been pondering while awake.

Peremptory Ideation

During the 1960s, an extraordinary article was written by the psychoanalyst, George Klein (1967), regarding these complex, multi-dimensional, and multi-task processes.  Klein (1967, p. 80) described a process that he called “peremptory ideation” which consists of a dynamic and highly influential train of thought:  “. . . the capacity of an idea to take hold of behavior, exerting influence upon perception, imagery, symbolic construction, gesture, and action. It is one of the paradoxes of such a train of thought that it may gain in urgency from the very fact of being denied recognition and intentional acknowledgement—that its organizing theme evades reflection and recognition.”

Several controversial and often startling research projects were conducted by Klein and his colleagues at the time. Images that were projected on a screen for very brief periods of time (often at only 1/100 of a second) were found to influence later memory tasks and acts of imagination. These studies led to the popularization of a phenomenon called “subliminal perception” (in Vance Packard’s The Hidden Persuaders, 1957)—the frightening capacity of advertisers to slip messages into otherwise benign media presentations (especially movies). While the specific studies on which The Hidden Persuaders was based were deeply flawed, Klein’s own research proved to be valid and provocative. It appears that specific sensory experiences on which we are not focusing can “slip in the side door” of our consciousness and begin to interplay with or even help to precipitate Klein’s unconscious trains of thought.