People can read entire sentences and even solve arithmetic problems, even when they aren't consciously looking at them, says a new study.

Previous studies have shown that people can grasp certain basic words without even consciously looking at them.

In the study, participants were subjected to information based on a technique known as Continues Flash Suppression (CFS). In this technique, one eye is bombarded with colorful images and the other receives flashes of words (or sentences and equations). Since, colorful images take up a huge chunk of conscious mind; researchers believe that the subconscious mind processes the information coming from the flashes.

The study participants were at first shown short word phrases during a CFS session; some of which made sense while others were nonsensical phrases. Researchers found that participants were able to recall nonsensical phrases better than those that made sense, showing that the subconscious mind had read the flashes and even understood them.

In a second part of the study, participants were shown flashes of simple plus minus equations along with colorful images of numbers.

Surprisingly, study participants were able to recall the number presented to them along with the equations. Also, participants were able to better recall equations that were without the answers than those with answers.

According to the researchers, the study shows that people take in and process a lot of information subconsciously. They added that views on subconscious awareness and thought processing, perhaps needs updating, according to Medical Xpress.

The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.