# From Subliminality, to the Unconscious Mind: Philosophical Lineages, Evolutionary Paradoxes, and the Future of the Origins of the Unconscious

## TL;DR

This paper explores the distinction between subliminal processing and the unconscious mind from an evolutionary perspective, arguing that unconscious processes interacting with conscious awareness are essential for adaptation.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel evolutionary framework to differentiate subliminality from unconscious processing and highlights the need for new experimental paradigms.

## Key findings

- Unconscious processing without conscious interaction would hinder evolutionary adaptation.
- Interactions between unconscious and conscious processes are necessary for skill acquisition and social behavior.
- Current experimental methods are insufficient to study subliminality and unconscious-conscious interactions.

## Abstract

In previous works, we provided empirical evidence and the theoretical foundations for a conceptual dissociation between subliminality, such as purported emotional responses to invisible-imperceptible elicitors, and the intelligent workings of the notion of an unconscious mind, such as involuntary and automatic physiological experiences and behavioural patterns that precede but eventually interact with conscious awareness and evaluation. In this manuscript, we address this differentiation from a Theory of Evolution perspective. We show and discuss that a singularly subliminal module of unconscious processing could not have led to phylogenetic and ontogenetic skill acquisition, conscious problem-solving, volitional social engagement, inhibition and affect, and the development of consciously actionable cognitive-behavioural personality traits and characteristics. We argue that unconscious processing in the complete absence of conscious involvement and awareness, meta-awareness, and meta-cognition, would constitute an evolutionary hurdle and limitation. In contrast, we discuss and provide evidence that unconscious responses that occur before but eventually involve and interact with conscious awareness is a necessary condition for ecological adaptation. We highlight that unconscious-and-conscious communication, and interactions can contribute to implicit and explicit skill-acquisition, immediate physiological responses to threatening and social-related elicitors, and the ability to evaluate, appraise, re-appraise and align our experiences and responses to real-life ecological settings and adaptive demands. We conclude our manuscript with a discussion concerning the lack and need thereof of an experimental paradigm with which to, firstly, properly and appropriately explore subliminality, and, secondly, systematically and validly explore the interactions and workings of consciousness and the unconscious mind.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12124-026-09974-3.