?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Nested+ontology+and+causal+options%3A+A+paradigm+for+consciousness&rft.creator=Merker%2C+Dr.+Bjorn&rft.subject=Theoretical+Biology&rft.description=A+brain+charged+with+guiding+its+body+through+a+complex+and+lively+world+from+a+position+of+solitary+confinement+inside+its+opaque+skull+faces+a+set+of+functional+problems+whose+solution+may+account+for+the+existence+and+nature+of+consciousness.+An+analysis+of+the+more+general+and+basic+of+these+problems%2C+sensory+as+well+as+motor%2C+suggests+the+utility+of+implementing+a+high-level+mutual+interface+between+sensory+target+selection%2C+motor+action+selection%2C+and+motivational+ranking+of+needs+at+a+late+stage+in+the+run-up+to+the+brain%E2%80%99s+decision+about+the+very+next+action+to+take.+The+three+selection+processes+are+subject+to+a+number+of+mutual+dependencies+such+that+a+regimen+of+constraint+satisfaction+among+them+would+yield+gains+in+behavioral+efficiency.+The+logistics+of+implementing+such+a+regimen+can+be+simplified+by+casting+the+interface+in+a+particular+nested%2C+analog+format.+It+would+host+a+running+synthetic+summary+of+the+rest+of+the+brain%E2%80%99s+interpretive+labors%2C+reflecting+best+estimates+of+the+veridical+current+state+of+world%2C+body%2C+and+needs+for+purposes+of+real-time+decision+making.+Detailed+scrutiny+of+the+design+requirements+for+such+a+mechanism+discloses+that+it+would+be+functionally+partitioned+in+a+way+that+defines+a+conscious+mode+of+operation.+Moreover%2C+the+design+of+the+mechanism+mandates+a+specific+departure+from+veridicality+at+a+point+that+makes+its+functional+format+match+the+assumptions+of+naive+realism.+Consciousness+itself+thus+introduces+a+significant%2C+though+not+insuperable%2C+psychological+obstacle+to+the+development+of+a+veridical+account+of+its+nature.&rft.date=2010-06-02&rft.type=Preprint&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F6853%2F1%2FParadigmConsc%2528ArchiveCopy%2529.pdf&rft.identifier=++Merker%2C+Dr.+Bjorn++(2010)+Nested+ontology+and+causal+options%3A+A+paradigm+for+consciousness.++%5BPreprint%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F6853%2F