creators_name: Baars, Bernard creators_name: Newman, James creators_name: Taylor, John editors_name: Hameroff, Stuart editors_name: Kaszniak, Al editors_name: Laukes, James type: bookchapter datestamp: 2000-08-28 lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:23 metadata_visibility: show title: Neuronal mechanisms of consciousness: A Relational Global Workspace framework. ispublished: pub subjects: cog-psy full_text_status: public keywords: consciousness, cognitive neuroscience, cognitive theory, neuroscience theory, awareness, attention, brain theory abstract: This paper explores a remarkable convergence of ideas and evidence, previously presented in separate places by its authors. That convergence has now become so persuasive that we believe we are working within substantially the same broad framework. Taylor’s mathematical papers on neuronal systems involved in consciousness dovetail well with work by Newman and Baars on the thalamocortical system, suggesting a brain mechanism much like the global workspace architecture developed by Baars (see references below). This architecture is relational, in the sense that it continuously mediates the interaction of input with memory. While our approaches overlap in a number of ways, each of us tends to focus on different areas of detail. What is most striking, and we believe significant, is the extent of consensus, which we believe to be consistent with other contemporary approaches by Weiskrantz, Gray, Crick and Koch, Edelman, Gazzaniga, Newell and colleagues, Posner, Baddeley, and a number of others. We suggest that cognitive neuroscience is moving toward a shared understanding of consciousness in the brain. date: 1998 date_type: published publication: Toward a Science of Consciousness II: The second Tucson discussions and debates. publisher: MIT Press pagerange: 269-278 refereed: TRUE referencetext: Alavi F and Taylor JG (1993) "A Global Competitive Network for Attention", Neural Network World, 5, 477-502. Alavi F and Taylor JG (1995) "A global competitive neural network", Biol Cyb 72, 233-248. Amari S-I (1977) "Dynamics of Pattern Formation in Lateral-Inhibition Type Neural Fields", Biol Cyb 27, 77-87. Baars, B. J. (1983). Conscious contents provide the nervous system with coherent, global information. In R. Davidson, G. Schwartz, & D. Shapiro (Eds.), Consciousness and self-regulation (pp. 45-76). New York: Plenum Press. Baars, B.J. (1988). A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness. NY: Cambridge University Press. Baars, B.J. 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Towards a neural network model of the mind. Neural Network World, 2, 797-812. Taylor JG (1993) "When the Clock Struck Zero", London: Picador Press. Taylor JG (1995) "Modules for the Mind of Psyche" Proc of WCNN'95 2, 967-972, INNS Press. Taylor JG (1996a) "A competition for consciousness?", Neurocomputing 11,271-296. Taylor JG (1996b) "How and Where does Consciousness arise in Cortex?" KCL preprint Taylor, J.G. & Alavi, F.N. (1993). Mathematical analysis of a competitive network for attention. In J.G. Taylor (Ed.) Mathematical Approaches to Neural Networks. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., 341-382. Taylor J.G . (1997) "The Emergent Mind". MIT Press (to appear). citation: Baars, Bernard and Newman, James and Taylor, John (1998) Neuronal mechanisms of consciousness: A Relational Global Workspace framework. [Book Chapter] document_url: http://cogprints.org/946/1/Baars%2C_Newman_and_Taylor_Tucson_9x_html.htm