smallest quantity of thought?

Question

for this one second i was thinking this....how about that 1/64 of a second , what were you thinking?

Answer 1

Actually, most significant, expressable, conscious thoughts last 3-8 seconds.

We are not actually aware of anything that lasts less than a tenth of a second.

Typically most of us cannot string together a related stream of thoughts, each lasting 3-8 seconds, for more than twenty minutes. Before that amount of time has elapsed, most of us have been distracted or else started thinking about something else.

However, some of us may repeatedly think the same things over and over, often when we are frustrated, hurt or angry.

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[Edit]
Pedestal42 - thanks for looking up the page you refer to. However, after reading it closely, I have to disagree with your intrepretation. Reading it closely, it says it has been "... established that stimuli applied to the skin, rather than directly to the brain, could be detected consciously even if they were much shorter than 500 milliseconds".

Thus, the shortest stimuli which we can be aware of is smaller than half a second.

Of course, we have feelings, sensations and other mental reactions which are very brief, but I do not classify these as "thoughts".

To formulate a *conscious* thought requries considerably longer than half a second. Here I am defining a "consisous thought" as one which you can express in a sentence or fragment of a sentence.

Answer 2

To me the smallest quantity of thought is Love. Its the basis witch all other thoughts are based off imo.

hate and love are like cold and heat.

cold doesnt actualy exist its just less heat compaired to other heat.

hate doesnt actualy exist its just less love compaired to other love.

indifference cant exist if you exist. There for indifference can't exists if anything exists.

There for love fills the universe as much as mass or em fields. Its the force that gives a reason for existance itself and all things alive and able to think have a concept of love the question is what has the ability to think? I would argue everything with love and mass/energy can think or has freewill that is to say. I dont know how or why but I can tell you its great and even if its not true I wouldnt want to not believe in love.

Answer 3

I think the smallest demonstrable quantity of thought is about half a second.

This amount (+or - a little), turns up in a variety of physiological experiments dealing with decision-making.

To start, perhaps, refer to the experiments of Benjamin Libet.

Or look up suddenly at a wall clock with a second hand that "steps "the seconds.
You may well see it "pause" for an unexpected interval.

Answer 4

a second is how long it takes the human body to think of all the things it knows thats not something you remember

Answer 5

(inner thought) "Ahhhh man!! I knew that I shoud have squeezed that on off in the bathroom. Its touching cloth!!!"

Answer 6

About getting more/ maximum from life.

Answer 7

controlled thought