As complicated as this mystery seems, human cognition operates at a relatively slow, fixed speed of roughly 10 bits per second for tasks such as remembering, making decisions and imagining. Sudden insights can bubble to the surface while unconscious operations churn away. And people’s brain waves predictably sync up as the individuals interact, which is perhaps an evolutionary adaptation that helps us bond. Automatic processes suggest our minds operate without our conscious involvement, but that’s not the whole story.