Stream of consciousness (psychology)

The stream of consciousness is a metaphor describing how thoughts seem to flow through the conscious mind. Research studies have shown that we only experience one mental event at a time as a fast-moving mind stream. The term was coined by Alexander Bain in 1855 in the first edition of The Senses and the Intellect, when he wrote, "The concurrence of Sensations in one common stream of consciousness (on the same cerebral highway) enables those of different senses to be associated as readily as the sensations of the same sense" (p. 359). But it is commonly credited to William James often considered to be the father of American psychology who used it in 1890 in his The Principles of Psychology. The full range of thoughts—that one can be aware of—can form the content of this stream. Mindstream Early Buddhist scriptures describe the "stream of consciousness" (Pali; viññāna-sota) where it is referred to as the Mind Stream. The practice of mindfulness, which is about being aware moment-to-moment of one's subjective conscious experience aid one to directly experience the "stream of consciousness" and to gradually cultivate self-knowledge and wisdom. Buddhist teachings describe the continuous flow of the "stream of mental and material events" that include sensory experiences (i.e., seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touch sensations, or a thought relating to the past, present or the future) as well as various mental events that get generated, namely, feelings, perceptions and intentions/behaviour. These mental events are also described as being influenced by other factors such as attachments and past conditioning. Further, the moment-by-moment manifestation of the "stream of consciousness" is described as being affected by physical laws, biological laws, psychological laws, volitional laws, and universal laws.