Tag Archives: Brain

Is there a conscious perception finish line?

Posted on January 19, 2020 by

Global workspace theory (GWT) is the proposition that consciousness is composed of contents broadcast throughout the brain.  Various specialty processes compete for the limited capacity of the broadcasting mechanisms, to have their content broadcast to the all the other specialty … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , , | 53 Comments

For animal consciousness, is there a fact of the matter?

Posted on January 18, 2020 by

Peter Carruthers has been blogging this week on the thesis of his new book, Human and Animal Minds: The Consciousness Question Laid to Rest.  I mentioned Carruthers’ book in my post on global workspace theory (GWT), but didn’t get into … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , | 70 Comments

Peter Carruthers on the problems of consciousness

Posted on January 13, 2020 by

Peter Carruthers is posting this week at The Brains Blog on his new book, Human and Animal Minds, which I mentioned in my post on global workspace theory.  His first post focuses on two issues: latent dualism and terminological confusion. … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

The battle between integration and workspace will take a while

Posted on January 11, 2020 by

Well, I find this a bit disappointing.  I was hoping that the contest between global workspace theory (GWT) and integrated information theory (IIT) would be announced sometime this year.  Apparently, I’m going to have to wait awhile: Pitts describes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , | 30 Comments

Daniel Dennett on consciousness and the hard question

Posted on January 5, 2020 by

This interview is pretty much classic Daniel Dennett.  He starts off pointing out that introspection is unreliable, that our beliefs about our inner experience are what need to be explained, not necessarily what the beliefs purport to be reality.  He … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , | 40 Comments

A response to the unfolding argument: a defense of Integrated Information Theory

Posted on January 5, 2020 by

Back in May,  I shared a paper that made a blistering attack on the integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness.  A major point of IIT is that a specific causal structure is necessary to generate phenomenal experience, namely a feedback … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

The issues with higher order theories of consciousness

Posted on January 2, 2020 by

After the global workspace theory (GWT) post, someone asked me if I’m now down on higher order theories (HOT).  It’s fair to say I’m less enthusiastic about them than I used to be.  They still might describe important components of … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , | 57 Comments

Global workspace theory: consciousness as brain wide information sharing

Posted on December 29, 2019 by

Lately I’ve been reading up on global workspace theory (GWT).  In a survey published last year, among general consciousness enthusiasts, integrated information theory (IIT) was the most popular theory, followed closely by GWT.  However, among active consciousness researchers, GWT was … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , | 55 Comments

The magic step and the crucial fork

Posted on December 8, 2019 by

Those of you who’ve known me for a while may remember the long fascination I’ve had with Michael Graziano’s attention schema theory of consciousness.  I covered it early in this blog’s history and have returned to it multiple times over … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , | 56 Comments

The layers of emotional feelings

Posted on November 25, 2019 by

One of the ongoing debates in neuroscience is on the nature of emotions, where they originate, where they are felt, and how innate versus learned they are. One view, championed by the late Jaak Panksepp and his followers, see emotions … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , | 46 Comments