What Current Theories of Consciousness are Missing
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Notwithstanding the power of the cell assembly concept, which holds that specific patterns of neuronal activity constitute the substrate of perceptual awareness that rises into consciousness, a explanatory gap remains between the phenomenological experience of consciousness and the brain processes from which that experience arises. A number of compelling and insightful theories have been offered that attempt to bridge that gap, but most of them fall short by failing to [a] specify which of many options other than hard-wired cell assemblies carry the information that becomes conscious, or [b] identify the brain mechanism for monitoring the functional events that become conscious. This Viewpoint article points to a number of possibilities that could be considered for both the substrate and monitor that give rise to consciousness.
Source: Neurology and Neuroscience
Author: Louis N Irwin
Institution: The University of Texas at El Paso
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4396660901