But the average person can't see it. No the average person can't see it, but it effects the pacing and everything else. Well, the context is everything. So if you're cutting at a very rapid pace, then a frame or two frames can mean an enormous difference. Over the course of a whole movie, sure it does.
Subconscious level is a good way to look at it.
But there's also a point at which you want to stop your conscious mind when you're cutting and basically react to the material. I mean, the material as it's shot is a given. So you're reacting to it. I'm trying not to think. I tell my mind to shut up and let the material take me forward.