Categorization: a fundamental of unconscious mental activity

Association formation and categorization, phenomena below volition and awareness, are in the unconscious domain. They reflect automatic processes of brain circuitry. The formation and maintenance of associations and categories require as well as yield neural energy, energy arising from cerebral metabolic processes. Automatic categorization is a fundamental element in perceptual, motoric, and cognitive functions as emphasized by Edelman (1987) who, further, relates categorization to dynamic cerebral cortical fields and to limbic fields for the necessary affective component.