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Alan, I have considered concentrating, cognition, consciousness, awarenes, perception, focusing, and 'short-term memory' numerous times over the years - and continue to cogitate these 'things'. I am now believing that they may all be the same process albeit complex. There is much capability with 5 gigabillion?? neural cells interconnected. The sensory inputs are comprised of large amounts of stimuli reaching us (subject) from the external (objects comprising rest of the) cosmos along with the autonomic systems of our self. The majority of this incoming data is processed sub- or un-consciously. It seems that perception improves with focusing or concentrating upon few or a single abstract of the whole. I think Alfred Korzybski was trying to elucidate his insights about this with his books and teaching and establishment of general semantics. The human brain may be the only one which can abstract to the degre necessary to verbally label, name, symbolize via a word, classify objects and abstract from this primitive observe level to higher levels. The map is not the territory is a statement he repeated many times. The symbol is not physical. The thinking is in higher levels of abstraction. Some words symbolize the unique physical example - and also symbolize higher levels: chair(#1, at the time pointed to), chair(class #1 of infinite classes such as wooden, small, movable, heavy, white, etc.) as well as chair(concept of stool, seat, throne, dias, person in charge, etc) with each of these date reference-able and evolving. Since all of this is done in the brain- and it has learned to think and to focus et cetera with neurotransmitters being used, our PD condition of shortage of dopamine (extra sometimes) seems likely to cause disruptions in the focusing process of ignoring all other incoming signals in some instances. The short term memory (process) must be interrupted by another person to allow us to listen with concentration. If our listening in the background is not yet placed into the actively listening mode (id est, short term = present focus scope), we will not hear cognitively. Another part of the cognition often does have a recording of the immediate past inputs which we often access to call that into the current focus cognizance. Of course, this interrupts the train of thought one had been keeping active - if enough neurotransmitters were available - and not overridden by pain, boredom, panic, startling event, etc. (You might know that et cetera was sooften used by Korzybski that it became the title of the magazine ETC for semanticists. Sam Hayakawa was the final grad student Korzybski accepted.) I will continue in the hope some may benefit. The base level abstracting is subjective sensing: light, sound vibrations, tongue and nose sampling, pressure and temperature nerves in the skin feeling, etc. Second level process is selecting by the subconscious neural networks of significant to subject's cognition information. This may be multi-system cycling complex process while conscious rather than 'disconnected' = 'dreaming'; and may be differentiated from the autonomic and sympathetic systems networked processes. Third level abstract process may be that learned by the mind-brain perceptive focusing(filtering out of more to restrict cognition range and allow more systems or reserve nerve-thinking-processing capacity to explore = think = analyze = correlate = conceive = define = theorize = discover the generality which include the laws of nature, physics of reality, etc. This includes getting it down on paper using the written symbols of verbal communication via languages which includes the special language of mathematics and drawings and pictures and jargon of experts which provides more specific definitions. These books and recordings allow us to aggregate and collectivize our individual insights and discoveries such that the fleeting memory is comunicated to ourselves later - and to others as our posterity evolves. Alan, do you also have anger arise when interrupted from typing a thought. I find this if I get a cramp, or if the phone rings and I am home without my wife who usually answers - or if she starts asking me a question. The anger seems a stronger version as I find it harder to get things done with this slower body and mind. I also find my being startled by unexpected verbal address from my wife when I may be doing something and do not sense her approach. I have jumped whereas this never happened before PD. take care Ron <[log in to unmask]> Ronald F. Vetter