Cognitive Science and the Unconscious

Can a worthwhile exchange be set up between the seemingly opposing viewpoints
of psychoanalytic therapy and cognitive science? Stein and the other
contributing authors of Cognitive Science and the Unconscious say yes. In fact,
it is their contention that such an interchange of theory and method-combining
the theoretical clarity and empirical rigor of cognitive science with the
richness and complexity of clinical work-holds the promise of enriching both
disciplines. The concept of unconsciousness, as variously conceived by
psychoanalysis ("The Unconscious") and cognitive science ("unconscious
processing"), is the reference point of this dialogue.

Written by a
distinguished group of researchers and clinicians, this volume examines those
aspects of the unconscious mind most relevant to the psychiatric practitioner,
including unconscious processing of affective and traumatic experience,
unconscious mechanisms in dissociative states and disorders, and cognitive
approaches to dreaming and repression. Although cognitive psychology forms the
backbone of the book, many of the chapters illuminate relevant work from the
fields of artificial intelligence, linguistics, and biology.