ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that if unconscious internal reality and its fantasy scenarios did not exist, a stimulus coming from the external world would lead to an action in direct relation to it. It discusses an example drawn from the arsenal of neuropsychological testing. The instruction is to recognize in a series of images those that represent animals. Intermixed with the series of animal images are images having nothing to do with the animal world. The subject has to press a button when an animal is present. With a normal subject there will be conformity between the instruction and the response; that is, when an animal is presented the subject will press the button. This test actually explores a whole range of levels in the treatment of the external stimulus, from visual recognition to the executive functions resulting in action, passing through the activation of associative regions and the correlation of the perception with the images stored in the memory systems.
