Four Target Papers

TARGET PAPER LINKS 

Paper 1: “Global Workspace Dynamics: Cortical ‘Binding and Propagation’ Enables Conscious Contents
We will begin with Bernard Baars’ paper (with coauthors) from 2013, called “Global Workspace Dynamics: Cortical “binding and propagation” enables conscious contents.” This is the result of four decades of cumulative work, and it is important for our immediate discussion because it pulls all the strands together as of 2013.

It also describes Freeman and Kozma’s work as a possible solution to the question of conscious limited capacity. Walter also watched Baars’ trajectory over a long period of time with the thought that they would probably end up with some point of convergence. In any case, the Baars et al. (2013) paper is that, and then the Gaillard et al. (2009) paper (below) is the best empirical confirmation of the major GW hypothesis, namely that sensory consciousness involves a multi-source convergence in visual cortex (for visual stimuli), which is then “broadcast” or ignites from high levels of the classical visual cortex, around areas IT (inferotemporal) and MTL (medial temporal lobe, also called the hippocampus).

Baars, B., Franklin, S., and Ramsøy, T. (2013). Global workspace dynamics: cortical “binding and propagation” enables conscious contents. Front. Psychol. 4:200. (Full PDF available here: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00200

Paper 2: Converging Intracranial Markers of Conscious Access 
The Gaillard & Dehaene et al paper (2009) still might not be carefully studied by 90% of psychology and neuroscience. We will point out a plausible area of convergence between this evidence and GWT. 

Gaillard R, Dehaene S, Adam C, Clémenceau S, Hasboun D, Baulac M, et al. (2009) Converging Intracranial Markers of Conscious Access. PLoS Biol 7(3): e1000061. (Full PDF available here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000061)

Paper 3: A Switch and Wave of Neuronal Activity in the Cerebral Cortex During the First Second of Conscious Perception
The Herman et al. (2019) “Switch and Wave” paper reinforces our message. What you want is a big phenomenon that jumps out at you, and this evidence is just that.

Wendy X Herman, Rachel E Smith, Sharif I Kronemer, Rebecca E Watsky, William C Chen, Leah M Gober, George J Touloumes, Meenakshi Khosla, Anusha Raja, Corey L Horien, Elliot C Morse, Katherine L Botta, Lawrence J Hirsch, Rafeed Alkawadri, Jason L Gerrard, Dennis D Spencer, Hal Blumenfeld, A Switch and Wave of Neuronal Activity in the Cerebral Cortex During the First Second of Conscious Perception, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 29, Issue 2, February 2019, Pages 461–474, (Full PDF available here: https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx327)

Paper 4: Revisiting the Global Workspace: Orchestration of the Functional Hierarchical Organisation of the Human Brain 
A sophisticated answer to the questions raised by the other two papers, because now we’re talking about the connectome, the real wiring of the cortex.
(Full PDF)

Deco, G., Vidaurre, D., and Kringelbach, M. L. (2019). Revisiting the global workspace: orchestration of the functional hierarchical organisation of the human brain. BioRxiv 85:9579. https://doi.org/10.1101/859579