TY - JOUR
T1 - The evolutionary origins of the Global Neuronal Workspace in vertebrates
AU - Zacks, Oryan
AU - Jablonka, Eva
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The Global Neuronal Workspace theory of consciousness offers an explicit functional architecture that relates consciousness to cognitive abilities such as perception, attention, memory, and evaluation. We show that the functional architecture of the Global Neuronal Workspace, which is based mainly on human studies, corresponds to the cognitive-affective architecture proposed by the Unlimited Associative Learning theory that describes minimal consciousness. However, we suggest that when applied to basal vertebrates, both models require important modifications to accommodate what has been learned about the evolution of the vertebrate brain. Most importantly, comparative studies suggest that in basal vertebrates, the Global Neuronal Workspace is instantiated by the event memory system found in the hippocampal homolog. This proposal has testable predictions and implications for understanding hippocampal and cortical functions, the evolutionary relations between memory and consciousness, and the evolution of unified perception.
AB - The Global Neuronal Workspace theory of consciousness offers an explicit functional architecture that relates consciousness to cognitive abilities such as perception, attention, memory, and evaluation. We show that the functional architecture of the Global Neuronal Workspace, which is based mainly on human studies, corresponds to the cognitive-affective architecture proposed by the Unlimited Associative Learning theory that describes minimal consciousness. However, we suggest that when applied to basal vertebrates, both models require important modifications to accommodate what has been learned about the evolution of the vertebrate brain. Most importantly, comparative studies suggest that in basal vertebrates, the Global Neuronal Workspace is instantiated by the event memory system found in the hippocampal homolog. This proposal has testable predictions and implications for understanding hippocampal and cortical functions, the evolutionary relations between memory and consciousness, and the evolution of unified perception.
KW - Unlimited Associative Learning
KW - animal consciousness
KW - event memory
KW - fish neuroanatomy
KW - hippocampus
KW - minimal GNW
KW - minimal consciousness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173217849&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/nc/niad020
DO - 10.1093/nc/niad020
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C2 - 37711313
AN - SCOPUS:85173217849
SN - 2057-2107
VL - 2023
JO - Neuroscience of Consciousness
JF - Neuroscience of Consciousness
IS - 2
M1 - niad020
ER -