Studies have shown that there is a conscious and unconscious part of the brain, the conscious helps us make decisions

Question: Studies have shown that there is a conscious and unconscious part of the brain, the conscious helps us make decisions we need to think about, while the unconscious helps us do things automatically without thinking. How does the unconscious work?
- Keywords:
- Royal Society of Chemistry: Find out more about:
  
  automatically
  
  brain
  
  decision
Asked by Big Bang theory to Alex, Anaïs, Peter, Sarwat, Shreesha on 12 Mar 2015.
- Peter Maskell answered on 12 Mar 2015:
  
  Good question. I’m not sure anyone really understands how they work. The best understanding we have is for things like the control of breathing and heart rate where the brain has specific areas (in the back of the head) that look after these functions.
- Shreesha Bhat answered on 12 Mar 2015:
  
  If you mean by the involuntary actions, then you r answer may lie in the autonomous nervous system. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves are responsible for the involuntary actions like the flight response (if you are excited, then an increase in blood pressure, etc.) and also motor functions like reflex actions (taking away your hand while touching something hot) are regulated by it.

Question: Studies have shown that there is a conscious and unconscious part of the brain, the conscious helps us make decisions we need to think about, while the unconscious helps us do things automatically without thinking. How does the unconscious work?