Is it true that we can only think on one thing at any time?

Answer 1

For most people yes, but for everyone, no.

It's easier to approach this from a neurological perspective rather than a psychological one. The human brain contains only one sense of consciousness even in cases when an individual has multiple personalities, OCD, or even a recognized talent at multitasking. Why? Consciousness is defined as an ability to react to and recognize stimuli to the point that the individual shows a general awareness for his surroundings. In other words, consciousness can be understood to be a condition and not a possession. Having two senses of consciousness would be like like having two senses of awakeness or vision; the only way this could happen would be if there was another individual involved.

Maintaining multiple trains of thought though does not directly correlate towards one's ability to remain conscientious. There used to be a debate about how when a person claims to be thinking about multiple things at the same time, his mind is only oscillating between the two ideas. This argument has been mostly refuted today since multiple areas of the brain, that deal with different areas of thought, can be active at the same time.

The problem is that by thinking in multiple areas at once, an individual needs to have very strong will since it requires a tremendous amount of attention. Balancing out multiple thought processes is very difficult, but isn't always achieved by the brightest individuals (in fact some of the world's brightest individuals are horrible at simultaneous thinking but are so intelligent because they proceed through mental tasks at a very quick pace).

Answer 2

No way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I often have times where numerous of things can go thru my brain at the same time and it is often difficult to separate the things to only be able to focus on one at a time.
Years ago, I had someone ask me "what are you thinking about righ now"? I replied "there are so many I can't just pick out one".
Last weekend, it happened again. I was in charge of decorating three dance halls, for my dance clubs yearly workshop. About 20 women came up to me and asked how they could help; I immediately had tons of things going thru my brain it was really hard to focus on just one. Things had to be done and we had a deadline plus they needed to know exactly where to place certain things and how many. On top of all of this, the evening before - I had to run my mother to the emergency room (she was passing a gall stone and in tons of pain) so I had even more issues I was thinking about.
This is why I disagree with your question.

Answer 3

You can take certain drugs that will flush two or more transmitters of opposite effects at the same time giving you the feeling of having too many thoughts at the same time. (This is often abnormal for the brain to do on its own)

But normally, (unless you have a 'split brain') you think one thought at a time, unless you train the body and make certain fuctions to work as reactions to certain stimuli. (ex. Nearing an accident in a car, you can simultaneously turn your wheel AND apply the brakes)

Answer 4

You can only focus your ATTENTION on one thing at a time, but you senses are constantly receiving data from your environment. So unconsciously your body is constantly receiving and filter information about your environment and responding to these situations, but CONSCIOUSLY you are are only AWARE of a very small percentage of what is going on around you.

Answer 5

We have limitted ability to think of two things at once. It's like patting your hed and rubbing your tummy, it's possible but difficult, and you can't do either task as well.

People have a point of focus of concentration that is often refered to as being conscious. If you had two completely seperate points of concentration, it would be as if you had two individuals controling the same body.

Answer 6

I was taught we have 7 chambers of thought. We rotate through these 7 areas parking and unparking thoughts as we go. That is also why phone numbers used to be 7 digits

Answer 7

i can think of loads of things at one time i think..like right now at the back of my mind is the thought of a friend which is pretty constant and then im thinkign of what im goign to write next at the same time then im singing the words to a song in my head!
multi-tasking for the mind..

Answer 8

Yes and no.

We are capable of multitasking, but we can only focus on one thing at a time.

Answer 9

Yes,and it lasts just a second, but it is as powerfull as to create consequenses in our life.

Answer 10

No..I can think of a million things