| 9 | A Neurobiological Interpretation of Global Workspace Theory |
The global workspace (GW) theory described in chapter 7 (this volume) has a natural neurophysiological interpretation. We can perform a neural contrastive analysis of conscious versus unconscious events to pinpoint brain structures and processes that are clearly related to consciousness as such. The most obvious examples are well-known structures whose lesioning abolishes conscious wakefulness: the brainstem reticular formation, the reticular nucleus of the thalamus, and the nonspecific spray of neurons that emerges from the intralaminar nucleus of the thalamus to “activate” the cortex (creating the distinctive ...
Get Consciousness in Philosophy and Cognitive Neuroscience now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
