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GLOBAL WORKSPACE THEORY (GWT): Origins & Evidence

The cortex is a huge city of specialized functions, along with a unifying "center" linked to conscious cognition: what has been called a global workspace. We will learn about these aspects in this multimedia education course.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Medicine, Psychology
  • Information Sciences
  • Video & Audio Lessons
  • Quizzes
  • PDF Transcripts
  • PDF Readings
  • Baars' Latest Book
  • All Levels
  • 5h 18m
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Understanding the Mind & Brain with Psychobiologist Bernard J. Baars

Start learning today with one of the founders of the modern science of consciousness.

Direct observation of brains, starting with Wilder Penfield in the 1930s, shows that conscious experiences can be evoked in the cortex – the largest, most interconnected organ in the brain. Explore evidence in medical science with Bernard Baars and leading scientists and scholars in the scientific study of consciousness & the brain.

These Courses are for you if you’re interested in, or if you teach or study any of the following subjects:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychology & Psychiatry
  • Neuroscience & Neurobiology
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • The Humanities
  • Philosophy of Mind
  • Computational Science & AI
  • Neural Networks
  • Psychophysics
  • Contemplative Science

Students Receive Baars' Latest Book. Enroll Today!

“On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity” is an indispensable addition to the libraries of both students and experts who study the brain and conscious cognition.

George Mashour, MD, PhD

Director, Center for Consciousness Science, University of Michigan

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3 fMRI scans of the human brain on black background

What does modern science know about the brain basis of consciousness?

Consciousness is a fundamental scientific question of life. Elucidating its biological and psychological bases could therefore pave the way for major breakthroughs in basic science and clinical medicine. Moreover, such an understanding would have profound implications for philosophy.

Cortex is the most hyper-adaptable region of the brain, and reflects evolutionary, ontogenetic, epigenetic, and consciously-mediated learning and adaptation. The story of consciousness is the story of cortex – in dialogue with unconscious cortico-thalamic and extra-cortical functions.

We now have definitive evidence for that understanding, which has been historically hard to pin down because the cortex is the most adaptable organ in the body.

The cortex is adaptable at numerous levels of analysis — the most obvious being the dynamic activities that support learning, problem solving, and our consciousness at this very moment.

Trusted by Academics

The works of Bernard Baars are among the foundational texts of the scientific study of consciousness. Their influence in cognitive science and philosophy of mind is enormous, and their influence on my own thinking has been profound.
Murray Shanahan, PhD
Murray Shanahan, PhDProfessor of Cognitive Robotics, Imperial College London
Baars' preference for testable hypotheses as opposed to dead-end thought-experiments have made a major difference in shifting the topic to a secure knowledge base from which real progress can be made. His work is always insightful, careful, and trustworthy ~ virtues that have become increasingly elusive in philosophical approaches. A stunning achievement!
Patricia Churchland
Patricia ChurchlandProfessor of Philosophy Emerita, UCSD
Bernie Baars is the leading thinker behind the Global Workspace Theory of consciousness that has been recently championed by top neuroscientists, such as Stanislas Dehaene.
Peter Tse
Peter TseProfessor, Dept. of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College
Baars' book "On Consciousness" is landmark effort to comprehensively address, in an accessible way, the various dimensions of the Global Workspace, from its cognitive architecture to the living brain dynamics through which it is manifest.
Dr. George Mashour
Dr. George MashourUniversity of Michigan
Baars is brilliantly well versed in past writers who have explored human experience, from Aristotle to Marcel Proust, and on to a wide range of contemporary neuroscientists. As with William James, Bernard Baars communicates in an effortless and deeply thoughtful way, populated by the kinds of details and reflections that mark a scientist who has spent a lifetime becoming intimately familiar with his topic.
Leslie Allan Combs
Leslie Allan CombsSociety for Consciousness Studies
Consciousness will not become acceptable without 3 things: empirical evidence that overcomes the consciousness deniers, a satisfying account of subjectivity, and a global understanding of the mind's staggering complexity. Bernard Baars is perhaps our most important voice on all 3 fronts, and "On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity" raises a high bar for future exploration in the field.
Deepak Chopra, MD
Deepak Chopra, MDClinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health, UCSD
No scholar understands consciousness as well as Bernard Baars, and few can express this understanding as lucidly. His Global Workspace Theory is practical and elegant, addressing both conscious and unconscious activity. If anyone thinks there is a "hard problem" in this field, they need to listen to Bernard Baars before they make that assumption.
Stanley Krippner
Stanley KrippnerProfessor of Psychology, Emeritus, Saybrook University
Bernie Baars started, almost single-handedly, the "consciousness revolution" in cognitive psychology over 30 years ago. Baars is a giant on whose shoulders the future science of consciousness will stand.
Antti Revonsuo, PhD
Antti Revonsuo, PhDProfessor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Skövde, Sweden
In these works, expert authority Bernard Baars explains many exciting insights of the complex workings of the brain.
György Buzsáki, PhD
György Buzsáki, PhD Biggs Professor of Neuroscience at New York University School of Medicine
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