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Do we use all 8 functions?

Do we use all 8 functions?


  • Total voters
    21

highlander

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Do you think we use all 8 functions? Do we just use the top 4? To what degree?
 

Azure Flame

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Socionics says yes. We often don't choose to use the unconscious functions, they just sorta happen sporadically.

For example, as an ESTP, in certain high speed mental situations, I'll have flashes of Ne, where time will basically stop and I'll see every possible outcome in slow motion, and then I'll choose the best solution from there. Though its possible this could be Ti at work. My mind is so fast its often hard to tell why I do what I do.
 

Oblivious

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I've read somewhere that we use our shadow functions under abnormal levels of stress, I don't know how credible that is because they also say our tertiary and inferior functions are more appearent under stress I assume it depends on the individual and the circumstances, now something else I've read is that we don't use them on a normal bases but they do come in certain situations, yeah I feel it is impossible that we couldn't use all 8 functions due I feel that they serve us as some sort of support system or instinct that when our other functions fall short we resort to using our other functions.
 

Amargith

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Yes. As much as I do not enjoy using them, I'm actually better at Fe and Ni than I am at Te and Si, though the latter two feel more natural, though exhaust easily. Fe and Ni feel like a tool in a box that works for what I need it for, but is made for right-handed people instead of the lefty that I am.
 

Siúil a Rúin

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This is just personal observation and not MBTI info, but it does seem like besides the top four functions there are ways that people who strongly use their dominant function also use a related function. It appears like people who are strongly Ni-dom might also score high on Ne, so that people can posses both the i and e versions of their top functions.

Another observation is that people who strongly use their dominant function can also exhibit the parallel opposite function like Ti/Fi, Ni/Si, Fe/Te, Se/Ne.

Not sure if there is a way that this connects to any of the established theory, but it is just an observation fwiw.

Edit:
I know that I score high in Ni, Ne, Fi, and Fe.
I have noticed other people with the other relationship like my strongly INTP partner's emotional framework is more Fi than Fe, but if there ever was a Ti-dom, it is him. He also has some Te going on, so I've noticed both relationships.

I've noticed some INFJs have strong Si, while others have a touch of Ne, etc. etc.
 

Oblivious

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Yes. As much as I do not enjoy using them, I'm actually better at Fe and Ni than I am at Te and Si, though the latter two feel more natural, though exhaust easily. Fe and Ni feel like a tool in a box that works for what I need it for, but is made for right-handed people instead of the lefty that I am.

I feel that to a certain degree the functions imitate each other so I think you hit spot on in your description
 

INTP

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there are only four functions; T, F, S and N and we use all of those four. introversion and extraversion of the functions are function attitudes and the opposite gets repressed "to the furthest limit"(<- jung said this). what for example introversion and extraversion of F means is that when using F, you have trust on the subjective side and habitually AND automatically go to the subjective aspect of F rather than the objective and have mistrust on the objective. or with sensing i could use myself as an example. i see and hear just like people with Se people do(except that are often more aware of the sensations), however i dont have this sort of trusting relationship to what i perceive, but i do trust what the sensations evoke in me. also as Ne is related, i dont trust the sensations themselves like Se people do, but have an attitude where i see the possibility of something else lying behind the sensation and that the sensation itself might lead away from some hidden "truth" behind it. or with thinking, i always question everything, no matter who says it and how professional that guy might be in his field, it has to make sense to me and i need to see the logic behind it to believe. and especially if the reasoning behind what the other person is saying goes against my reasoning, i refuse to buy that before i understand why he says what he says. i mean i do seek to understand what the other person says what he says to the furthest end, but if he is unable to give any good reasons for what he claims and cant debunk my logic, well i got no reason to believe him, even if he was albert einstein..

oh yea and also like oblivious said, functions can imitate each other, for example Ti led by Fe can look A LOT like Fi.

what comes to how much we use the 3rd and fourth functions, well i think we use them quite a bit, but they are more unconscious processes than dom and aux, so its just that we are often unaware that we are using them
 

greenfairy

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I believe we all use all 8, and as they descend in order they descend in consciousness. We are most proficient with the conscious use of the higher ones.

Think about it: function literally means to perform an action for a purpose. We all have use for these actions, and we all have these purposes. For example, we all use deductive logic and the ability to sense internal consistency (Ti), but not all of use rely on it to make sense of the world; we may use Fi, Ni, or Si as our mental focus. But we would still use Ti to perform these actions. We all sense and experience our environment (Se), but some people are more focused on it than others and use it as their primary mode of interacting with the world. Even though many on here disagree with me, I believe they correspond to skills of understanding and interacting with reality- both the external and internal worlds. So I do think that you can identify an approximation of someone's function order by looking at how skilled they are at the associated actions for the functions.
 

pinkgraffiti

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I've read somewhere that we use our shadow functions under abnormal levels of stress

i dont believe that. if you're on a beautiful flower field in the middle of may (in the northern hemisphere) then it doesn't matter if you are an Ne-dom, you're going to have Se working there (not only, but also). I think we all use all possible functions. i also think functions are part of a bipolar scale system: Ne is dependent on Si (and if you push a lot on the use of one you lose on the other, but you can also have them in equilibrium), Se is dependent on Ni, etc. Also, I've tended to notice some weird patterns on people's cognitive tests. often Fi users also high on Fe, I tend to score high on Ni also, as well as Ti...i don't know. 2 cents.
 

zago

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Do we use all 8 functions?

As far as I can understand, barely. The 4 primary functions of each MBTI type are laid out as they are for a reason.

We use our dominant 2 functions for as much as we possibly can. Even if a task is designed for another function, we tend to figure out a way to use the dominant functions creatively instead. For example, in sports, instead of using the strong physical and sensory finesse of Se, an INTP has a number of other options. He can use Ti and analyze the sport and the other players before the game for a strategic advantage. He can use Ne to come up with unexpected and "trick" plays that keep the opponent surprised. Or some combination of both. In this way, he can override the necessity of strong Se and barely use it at all.

SEX

The inferior 2 functions are the ones for which he has no ability to do this "bypassing" because they are the exact polar opposites of the dominant 2. So they wind up being stumbling blocks. Prime example: INTPs in the social and dating world. INTPs tend to analyze systems until they have a sharp theoretical understanding so they can achieve predictability. They treat their social lives no differently. That's why so many of them try to study personality type theory (as now) and things like PUA theory. Unfortunately, Ti and Ne, no matter how strong, can never fully systematize social interaction. It is beyond theory. There is too much irrationality, too many variables, too much hidden context. It's impossible. Thus, they struggle despite their efforts.

Every type has this same structural problem. They can use their dominant perceiving and judging function for everything until they stumble across something that requires the polar opposite functions to be used.

4.jpg

^You want that shit? Breasts. Seeeeexxxxxxxxxxxxx.

There is a solution, and it is an unexpected one. Avoidance. This is where a little self knowledge and the MBTI can really come in handy. Instead of putting in a huge strain and trying to bend oneself into something one is not, he can simply focus more on what he is good at, and things turn out better. The INTP is not well suited for the dating world. Dating does not provide him with the sort of interests and activities that he is interested in. He wants to talk theory, he doesn't care much about going and "doing things" that don't involve much of his abstract mind. His best bet is to exit the dating world altogether, leave it for people who are stars at it, and focus on what he likes, hoping to meet more similar minds that way. With some faith and a dash of luck, it is bound to happen in a way that he'll find sufficient. Also, his resources won't be spread so thin anymore, so he will be able to better use his time developing his creations and branching out within their networks.

This is my story, anyway, and I'm an INTP's INTP if there ever was one. I had this experience in the dating world - I got a fair amount of dates, and was charming enough, but it was all always somewhat of a manipulative and shallow act--a game that I was trying to win. In the end, I knew I was soundly mediocre at living this life, and I was afraid of what would happen as people began to realize it. I spent my life learning MBTI, learning PUA stuff but never really applying it (thank god), and trying to absorb what I saw as interesting information so I could impress people in future interactions. I learned every world capital, Pi to 150 decimal places, every element on the periodic table, and much more stuff like that just so I could whip it out for people and have something that I thought would distinguish me as a social companion or romantic partner. Of course, this didn't wind up working like I thought it would... no surprise for an INTP to miscalculate the social effect of something. People really thought I was kind of freakish, wondered what I did with my free time, and were even kind of threatened.. because in the end, it was bragging, wasn't it? KIM KARDASHIAN

My other major experience with this besides my social life is my 5 year stint as a high school science teacher. It was the same song and dance, in a different setting. I was always at a big disadvantage because of my inferior Si and Fe. I would try as hard as I could to compensate with Ti and Ne, coming up with creative and clever gimmicks that I thought might make them happy, but my success never got me much beyond mediocre. I simply always lacked that sense of being an advocate - a cheerleader, a disciplinarian.. that is so essential in teaching. In the end, I began to believe that if I just stopped trying to use Ti and Ne to my social advantage, people would see that I had my own thing going on and join me. Nope. The opposite happened. It was rapidly revealed to me that when I was being my true self, public school teaching was NOT the place for me. I obviously didn't really care about, even resented, the kids' personal struggles with life and with science. I never knew, up until then, that that was mostly what teaching was about. I thought I could chill, talk science, blow shit up, and tell some kids what to do and be done. To a certain extent, kids saw that about me, and it made them think I was cool, but it just wasn't enough to ever actually get the job done. As awful as it sounds, I never thought the job would require me to actually care.

There's more to this story. The terrible system that is public education in America... the struggles I had with bosses and other teachers... they had what I didn't, but I had what they didn't. They were the advocates I was not... but I understood everything that was going on, saw the forest while they were lost in the trees. Their only goal is to work hard, do their jobs, and advocate for children, and they don't even tend to see or think about how illogical some of the things they do can be. That might give you a hint about the struggles of some of the SJ, SP, and FJ types, as I have only really talked about INTPs in this thread, and I think I've given a pretty damn good understanding.

Edit: Sensing that no one was going to read or appreciate this brilliance, I added some appeal/pizzazz.
 

OrangeAppled

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[MENTION=4489]zago[/MENTION] :D :D :D
 

lunalum

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Option E: We don't use functions, they simply are. N, T, F and S are present in all of us.....I/E is preferred/suppressed.
 

Rasofy

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Edit: Sensing that no one was going to read or appreciate this brilliance, I added some appeal/pizzazz.
god i am so alone
After you described the Ne/Ti role in sports and started a topic named SEX, I was expecting to read how Ti and Ne work during the activity.

Could be an interesting idea for a future post. :p

I relate a lot to the 'learning PUA but never using it' part. I ended up just using the knowledge to get rid of toxic habits and to be more aware of what's really going on.
 
G

Ginkgo

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Do we use all 8 functions?

As far as I can understand, barely. The 4 primary functions of each MBTI type are laid out as they are for a reason.

Just because we use all 8 functions doesn't mean we all have to use comic sans. Lol.
 

Siúil a Rúin

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I suspect there are even more than "8 functions" and that the basic components of our personality interact and reconfigure a bit like a kaleidoscope. Each one of us is a different kaleidoscope that might share some of the same underlying colors and shapes and we each place emphasis on certain components (certain colors and shapes are larger and more prevalent), but as we move through life and experience different contexts, these continually reconfigure forming new relationships and patterns.

It makes sense that there are some basic, underlying components to personality, but the application of these components in each individual and within each life context are going to be capable of great complexity and nuance.
 

Kierva

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I'm of the opinion that you use all 8 functions at different times to adapt to what the situation requires of you.

How good you are on the said function depends on your type. Like SeTi isn't so good with NeFi, so when SeTi uses NeFi it looks amateurish, that kind of stuff.
 

highlander

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I've read somewhere that we use our shadow functions under abnormal levels of stress, I don't know how credible that is because they also say our tertiary and inferior functions are more appearent under stress I assume it depends on the individual and the circumstances, now something else I've read is that we don't use them on a normal bases but they do come in certain situations, yeah I feel it is impossible that we couldn't use all 8 functions due I feel that they serve us as some sort of support system or instinct that when our other functions fall short we resort to using our other functions.

I'm not convinced we use more than the top 4 but I really am not sure I know the answer to this question which is why I asked it. If we do use them at all, I think what you said sounds pretty much spot on.

This is just personal observation and not MBTI info, but it does seem like besides the top four functions there are ways that people who strongly use their dominant function also use a related function. It appears like people who are strongly Ni-dom might also score high on Ne, so that people can posses both the i and e versions of their top functions.

Another observation is that people who strongly use their dominant function can also exhibit the parallel opposite function like Ti/Fi, Ni/Si, Fe/Te, Se/Ne.

Not sure if there is a way that this connects to any of the established theory, but it is just an observation fwiw.

Edit:
I know that I score high in Ni, Ne, Fi, and Fe.
I have noticed other people with the other relationship like my strongly INTP partner's emotional framework is more Fi than Fe, but if there ever was a Ti-dom, it is him. He also has some Te going on, so I've noticed both relationships.

I've noticed some INFJs have strong Si, while others have a touch of Ne, etc. etc.

I score highly on Ni, Ne, Te and Ti - so high on both attitudes of those two functions. In my mind however there is a difference between scoring high on a function in Dario Nardi's cognitive function test and actually using the function. I don't even think it is an especially good test.

there are only four functions; T, F, S and N and we use all of those four. introversion and extraversion of the functions are function attitudes and the opposite gets repressed "to the furthest limit"(<- jung said this). what for example introversion and extraversion of F means is that when using F, you have trust on the subjective side and habitually AND automatically go to the subjective aspect of F rather than the objective and have mistrust on the objective. or with sensing i could use myself as an example. i see and hear just like people with Se people do(except that are often more aware of the sensations), however i dont have this sort of trusting relationship to what i perceive, but i do trust what the sensations evoke in me. also as Ne is related, i dont trust the sensations themselves like Se people do, but have an attitude where i see the possibility of something else lying behind the sensation and that the sensation itself might lead away from some hidden "truth" behind it. or with thinking, i always question everything, no matter who says it and how professional that guy might be in his field, it has to make sense to me and i need to see the logic behind it to believe. and especially if the reasoning behind what the other person is saying goes against my reasoning, i refuse to buy that before i understand why he says what he says. i mean i do seek to understand what the other person says what he says to the furthest end, but if he is unable to give any good reasons for what he claims and cant debunk my logic, well i got no reason to believe him, even if he was albert einstein..

Re bolded - that sounds right. It seems like there are a number of people (Lenore Thompson, Beebe) that have said we use all eight of the functions but it always strikes me as being overly creative. A "trickster" function for example - it doesn't quite seem real.

Your example of how your Ti works is a good one. I also question what others say in the same way you do but I do it in a completely different way. I'm not picking apart their reasoning or logic like that.

oh yea and also like oblivious said, functions can imitate each other, for example Ti led by Fe can look A LOT like Fi.

Can you elaborate on this a little more? How exactly does that work?

Do we use all 8 functions?

As far as I can understand, barely. The 4 primary functions of each MBTI type are laid out as they are for a reason.

We use our dominant 2 functions for as much as we possibly can. Even if a task is designed for another function, we tend to figure out a way to use the dominant functions creatively instead.


At first, I thought your post was spam with that photo and all but then I read it. It does seem to me like this is how it works.

The inferior 2 functions are the ones for which he has no ability to do this "bypassing" because they are the exact polar opposites of the dominant 2. So they wind up being stumbling blocks. Prime example: INTPs in the social and dating world. INTPs tend to analyze systems until they have a sharp theoretical understanding so they can achieve predictability. They treat their social lives no differently. That's why so many of them try to study personality type theory (as now) and things like PUA theory. Unfortunately, Ti and Ne, no matter how strong, can never fully systematize social interaction. It is beyond theory. There is too much irrationality, too many variables, too much hidden context. It's impossible. Thus, they struggle despite their efforts.

Every type has this same structural problem. They can use their dominant perceiving and judging function for everything until they stumble across something that requires the polar opposite functions to be used.

Well so then how is it that we look at functions in pairs? Ni + Se --> almost like Ni can't function without the use of Se. This is one of the things that confuses me. How can my dominant function be paired up with the inferior one and that be a habitual way of viewing the world and yet not use the inferior function all the time?

There is a solution, and it is an unexpected one. Avoidance. This is where a little self knowledge and the MBTI can really come in handy. Instead of putting in a huge strain and trying to bend oneself into something one is not, he can simply focus more on what he is good at, and things turn out better.

I agree with you to some extent. That is, in general, we have certain talents. We are more effective when we focus on using our talents than when we try and use non-talents or try to get better at those non-talents. So, I can stop doing things I suck at. Yes that's true. However, I don't think attempting to ignore the tertiary or inferior function is an effective path towards growth. I don't believe that works at all. There might be a relationship between the two but cognitive functions are not the same as talents.

My other major experience with this besides my social life is my 5 year stint as a high school science teacher. It was the same song and dance, in a different setting. I was always at a big disadvantage because of my inferior Si and Fe. I would try as hard as I could to compensate with Ti and Ne, coming up with creative and clever gimmicks that I thought might make them happy, but my success never got me much beyond mediocre. I simply always lacked that sense of being an advocate - a cheerleader, a disciplinarian.. that is so essential in teaching. In the end, I began to believe that if I just stopped trying to use Ti and Ne to my social advantage, people would see that I had my own thing going on and join me. Nope. The opposite happened. It was rapidly revealed to me that when I was being my true self, public school teaching was NOT the place for me. I obviously didn't really care about, even resented, the kids' personal struggles with life and with science. I never knew, up until then, that that was mostly what teaching was about. I thought I could chill, talk science, blow shit up, and tell some kids what to do and be done. To a certain extent, kids saw that about me, and it made them think I was cool, but it just wasn't enough to ever actually get the job done. As awful as it sounds, I never thought the job would require me to actually care.

There's more to this story. The terrible system that is public education in America... the struggles I had with bosses and other teachers... they had what I didn't, but I had what they didn't. They were the advocates I was not... but I understood everything that was going on, saw the forest while they were lost in the trees. Their only goal is to work hard, do their jobs, and advocate for children, and they don't even tend to see or think about how illogical some of the things they do can be. That might give you a hint about the struggles of some of the SJ, SP, and FJ types, as I have only really talked about INTPs in this thread, and I think I've given a pretty damn good understanding.

I don't think you're looking at this the right way. It appears to me that part of the problem is as you said - that you didn't care about your students. That isn't derived from your personality type. Who says INTPs don't care about other people?

I suspect there are even more than "8 functions" and that the basic components of our personality interact and reconfigure a bit like a kaleidoscope. Each one of us is a different kaleidoscope that might share some of the same underlying colors and shapes and we each place emphasis on certain components (certain colors and shapes are larger and more prevalent), but as we move through life and experience different contexts, these continually reconfigure forming new relationships and patterns.

It makes sense that there are some basic, underlying components to personality, but the application of these components in each individual and within each life context are going to be capable of great complexity and nuance.

Agree completely. MBTI is an oversimplified framework but it does provide some quite useful data points.
 

zago

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Well so then how is it that we look at functions in pairs? Ni + Se --> almost like Ni can't function without the use of Se. This is one of the things that confuses me. How can my dominant function be paired up with the inferior one and that be a habitual way of viewing the world and yet not use the inferior function all the time?

Well, I don't think that you necessarily use the inferior function very much, but I do think that it still gives rise to desires. An INTP actively and consciously uses Ti almost constantly, but Fe is always in the distant background, calling out that he needs to be a part of society, have relationships, fit in, etc.

Very rarely does actual use of the inferior arise, I believe, and when it does it isn't very graceful - it is when a situation has gotten so stressful that the person is desperate. INTPs can have their classic emotional outbursts.. when it seems that rational discourse has failed. It is one thing for them to make sarcastic, condescending remarks when they are offended; I still think that is Ti-Ne with a faint background Fe drive. A handful of times in my entire life have I really lost control and just gone absolutely apeshit on someone and expressed myself not in terms of logic (whether flawed or not) but in terms of how something made me feel.

My first semester freshman year of college, I got my first and only C ever. My mom was really pissed at me, and I absolutely flipped out on her. Actually, this was aided by alcohol - I was so stressed I saw this coming and drank a few beers first. But it was the first time in my life that I told her how I felt about certain things, and I was surprised to hear them come out. The main one I remember was how much it bothered/terrified me that she seemed to hate her job so much and how I didn't want to be like that. And yes I was sobbing.. fuckin alcohol lol.

I agree with you to some extent. That is, in general, we have certain talents. We are more effective when we focus on using our talents than when we try and use non-talents or try to get better at those non-talents. So, I can stop doing things I suck at. Yes that's true. However, I don't think attempting to ignore the tertiary or inferior function is an effective path towards growth. I don't believe that works at all. There might be a relationship between the two but cognitive functions are not the same as talents.

I would expect this to be people's main objection to my reasoning. We are told from a young age that we must get better at what we are not good at and do things that we don't want to do, but I have mostly stopped believing that. Sometimes it is unavoidable. Otherwise, I tend to think that self improvement for it's own sake is self absorbed. Why not just be kinda bad at some things? It's ok. Can't be good at everything. That's what makes other people so god damn valuable and attractive.

It is a grey area, I'll agree on that. Sometimes avoiding being challenged by things you're not talented in is unavoidable. That's certainly an opportunity for growth and experience and opens up opportunities for you to bring other people into your life who can guide and support you.

The truth here is that a lot of the time, we are scared to rely on what we are good at. We think that it will eliminate the tertiary and inferior supply from our life, and that would be terrible. For me, when I quit teaching, I was pretty terrified of now not having a career and losing many social connections, even though neither of them were fulfilling.

How you'll know you're doing it is by what it feels like. When you use your secondary function it feels natural, but the results might be kind of uncertain. When you use your tertiary, it feels like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders, but you feel secure because you are indeed using the tertiary to maintain your sense of the world you already know.

Which also happens to be the world where you can comfortably fail and make excuses.

I don't think you're looking at this the right way. It appears to me that part of the problem is as you said - that you didn't care about your students. That isn't derived from your personality type. Who says INTPs don't care about other people?

You think that being an INTP had nothing to do with my unenthusiasm for playing daddy to 150 strange kids every day? I'm going to have to disagree here. I do care about other people, yes, but in this situation I couldn't care about the particular problems I was faced with. That's more what I was getting at. Bobby won't do his classwork because he is bored. Fine with me, Bobby. Get an F. No skin off my back. Other people would be more likely to care to get to know Bobby on a personal level, find out who he is, what would motivate him, etc. Or at least whip him into shape. I was always quite happy to help the kids who were doing the work and had questions about science, but that's not where most kids struggle. They behave poorly and are unmotivated. Like I said, I am not a big disciplinarian or cheerleader. For that, get an ESTJ or an ENFx, they're perfect.
 

Fluffywolf

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It's better not to look at the 8 functions as separate entities. Our congnitive ability is a singular entity.

MBTI uses the 8 functions as a tool to describe and measure the preferences of our cognative mass.

Your brain doesn't have 8 lights in them that can turn on and off. Your brain has one light that can shift in color in a large spectrum of colors and mbti divided that spectrum into 8 distinct color ranges. And although your brain has the ability to be anywhere on that spectrum, it just has its own preferences meaning that there's a lof of colors on the spectrum that will never show. And forcing your brain out of the preferences would cause stress.

See it as a muscle that, in its relaxed state is always in a certain place in the spectrum. But it will only go elsewhere by straining that muscle and doing that for an extended period of time will cause stress and tiredness. Thus is not advised.

So in essence your question is pretty much void. It is not the right way to look towards what cognative functions truly are.
 
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