Question: Charli, have you any idea what we would be able to do if we actually used that 'subconscious' part of the brain?

Charlotte Flavell answered on 16 Jun 2014:

Well it depends what you mean by our “subconscious” mind but actually I think we do use it all the time. Our conscious mind refers to the things that we actively try to think about, like if we are trying to solve a particularly difficult maths question or if we are having a really intense conversation with our best friend.

Unconsciously, we do a lot of things without even thinking about them – we don’t have to remind our hearts to beat 70 times per minute, or remind our lungs to inflate 15 times a minute – that would be very distracting!

There are other, more complex, things that we are able to do without thinking about that once we had to think very hard about. For example, when I first learned to drive a car, I had to think really hard about what I was doing so I didn’t crash. No one was allowed to talk to me when I was driving and I wouldn’t let anyone put the radio on because I needed to concentrate really hard on what I was doing!

Now, you’ll be glad to know, I am able to talk to people and listen to music while I’m driving with no trouble whatsoever. My subconscious brain has taken over all the jobs like remembering to change gear and putting on my indicators so I barely have to think about it. But if something unexpected happens, my conscious brain will take over again so I can focus all of my attention on what is happening on the road – this usually means that my passengers will have to wait in silence until I’m ready to talk to them again!