It has been proposed that each stimulus in the conscious field activates its associated action plan.

It has also been proposed that the field permits stimuli to influence "action selection" collectively.

But if each stimulus activates its plan directly, then why is the field necessary? The answer is about time.

The field permits for the stimuli, which are processed at different speeds, to be evaluated simultaneously.

The "conscious field" is composed of all that one is conscious of at one moment in time, including, for example, objects in the environment, a smell, an afterimage, or a memory. According to some theories, the conscious field permits our decisions regarding what to do next to be influenced by all these "conscious contents." One treats a bottle of milk differently if one remembers being told it soured. According to some theoretical accounts, the contents in the field (for example, the bottle of milk and the memory that it is spoiled) activate their associated action plans.

This is evident in laboratory tasks such as the........

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