There is a stimulus response component. Ask pavlov, or anyone aroused by a hot [ideal sexual representation] who enters a room. This may not be the whole story, yet this reactionary opposition of ideas is an instrument of self deception.
Your brain certainly has compartments, whether their origin stories are a myth. You can meditate on a region of your mind in such a way as to reroute your thoughts through that part of your mind. For example, meditate on thinking from the front of your mind, or the back, or the right or the left. Be warned, this will at first make you stupid. After months of training, that part will become more competent, and you will notice subtle behavioral differences among regions.
When I train in martial arts, I allow myself to switch between right and left handedness. After years I can perceive the difference in cognitive strategy between sides, and allow each to train the other (developing a combination of methodical and improvisational techniques.)
All of your neurons are not firing all of the time. Your mind (and psychology) drifts between regions distributing the cognitive load. Various parts of the mind are more or less proficient in their strategies. These differences however are subtle and average out (defying all but the most determined introspection.)
Modern “science based thinking” is a sham. Science is a tool and guide, not a sanctified error free all encompassing representation of Truth.
Every ten years new scientific proof disputes the scientific proof which stood before it, and many times are full reversals of what had been said before.