- Much of our cognition takes place outside the grasp of our conscious awareness. We can respond to some cues and stimuli unconsciously. This conscious behavior arises because other parts of our brain can access a global information base that is held at a central location. There is a distributed network of neurons in the brain’s prefrontal cortex.
- The brain’s global neural workspace is the seat of a particular brain distribution activity that spontaneously activates a conscious thought in a coherent and exclusive manner. According to GNW, consciousness emerges when an incoming sensory information inscription is broadcast globally to multiple cognitive systems. These systems process data to speak, store or call up a memory or execute an action. We globally interconnected this entire workspace.
- There are five major categories of processors that are dynamically mobilized with each thought. Long-term memory circuits provide the workspace with access to past percepts and events. To be conscious is to have an experience. We store experiences for future reference. Only consciousness has causal powers. Consciousness has both differentiated and integrated states of information. Consciousness is an information-processing network. We store experience information and retrieve it upon demand. Before we stored the information, we evaluated it. This new information also goes through the cause-and-effect processing circuits.
- An activated global modulation and vigilance system is in place during waking hours. The intensity of the system can be raised or lowered situationally. We can enhance graded inputs that modulate the amplitude of neurons in the activation center. We enhance amplitude whenever novel, unpredicted, or emotionally relevant signals occur, and conversely, it drops when the input is a routine activity. There are different neuron assemblies, input systems, and specialized processors involved.
