Introduction. GWT is a widely used leading theory.
Global Workspace Theory (GWT): A Theory of Human Cognitive Architecture, the Cortex, and Consciousness. A Brief Overview
Far from being some free-floating cloud around our heads, sensory consciousness is profoundly embedded in biology, anatomy, physiology, and above all, in adaptive brain functions that serve us in every second of waking life.
This is not some philosophical speculation. It is now supported by numerous empirical findings published in peer-reviewed journals that are easily found in web archives.
How can we understand the evidence?
The best answer today is a “global workspace architecture,” first developed by cognitive modeling groups led by Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon. The term “global workspace” comes from Artificial Intelligence, where it refers to a fleeting memory domain that allows for cooperative problem-solving by large collections of specialized programs. Some brain implications of the theory have been extensively explored over a 40 year period. We will see that the brain basis of consciousness corresponds nicely to our expectations, based on GWT.
Global Workspace Theory (GWT) began with one simplifying question: How does a serial, integrated and very limited stream of consciousness emerge from a nervous system that is mostly unconscious, distributed, parallel and of enormous capacity?
GWT started as psychological theory in 1983, with a simple flow diagram:
- GWT has since become a prominent approach in scientific studies of consciousness (Mashour et al., 2020) ⎯ a widely used framework for the role of conscious and unconscious events in the functioning of the brain.
- GWT has developed inductively, beginning with the best evidence available and emerging as a cognitive architecture ⎯ a consistent set of ideas about consciousness based on a great deal of psychological evidence, going back over the last two centuries or so.