About This Course

Global Workspace Theory (GWT): A Theory of Human Cognitive Architecture, the Cortex, and Consciousness.

“Global Workspace Theory has been a foundational concept in the modern science of consciousness, and its more recent neural instantiation has enjoyed widespread and increasing support.” 

— George Mashour, MD, PhD, Director, Center for Consciousness Science; Professor of Anesthesiology, Neurosurgery, Neuroscience, and Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

In this course, you will examine the “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.

In these discussion based seminars and media-rich lessons, you will learn the origins of Global Workspace (GW) theory, which provides the most widely used framework to date for the role of conscious and unconscious events in the functioning of the brain, a set of explicit assumptions that have been tested over several decades. GWT is consistent with our current knowledge, and can be enriched to include other aspects of human experience.

• You will explore the evidence supporting GWT, drawn from neuroscience, neurosurgery, psychology, psychiatry, the history of sensory science, brain anatomy, and philosophy. 

• You will examine the Theater Model, a useful metaphor for asking questions about consciousness and the brain.

• We discuss the “Limited Capacity Paradox” that gave rise to GWT and its compensatory advantages.

• You will gain an understanding of the cortico-thalamic (C-T) system of the brain, and how it functions.

• To understand the brain’s great functional connectivity, you will examine the connectome – the street map of the cortex.