UPDATED WORKS ON GLOBAL WORKSPACE THEORY: 1988 - 2013

A coherent effort to organize a large and growing body of scientific evidence about conscious brains.

Global Workspace Dynamics (GWD) is the most current version of GWT - attempting to take into account the complexities of the living brain. These updated works trace the beginnings of GWT/GWD through the continued rise of brain evidence and psychological understanding.

GWT provides a widely used framework for conscious and unconscious brain events, a set of explicit assumptions that can be tested, as many of them have been.

How can we understand the evidence?

The best answer today is a ‘global workspace architecture,’ first developed by cognitive modeling groups led by Alan 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 explored.

Global Workspace Theory (GWT) began with this 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?” Global Workspace (GW) theory provides the most widely used framework to date for our rapidly accumulating body of evidence. It is consistent with our current knowledge, and can be enriched to include other aspects of human experience.

Stan Franklin - LIDA: Cognitive Architecture's Computational Implementation of GWT

Our colleague and friend Stan Franklin and his many co-workers have built on GWT to sketch out a more general theory of cognition.

Dehaene-Changeux Model (DCM): Global Neuronal Workspace is Part of GWT

Stanislas Dehaene and Jean-Pierre Changeux in Paris have developed experimentally testable models and made further testable claims about the brain basis of visual consciousness.

{Eyebrows are no longer raised even among neuroscientists when the topic of consciousness is discussed, largely due to authors like Bernard Baars. Baars, the creator of the Global Workspace Theory (GWT) of consciousness, explains his influential theory in exquisite details in this new volume, along with many updates of his main writings. He takes a bird's eye view of the brain but with many exciting insights of its complex workings. An enjoyable read by an expert authority.

György Buzsáki, MD, PhD

Biggs Professor of Neuroscience, NYU School of Medicine Author of Rhythms of the Brain; The Brain from Inside Out (OUP)

{Baars was just waaaay ahead of everyone else in approaching questions concerning consciousness as scientific questions. And he has done vastly more than metaphor-slinging philosophers to make progress on the topic. His 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. This corpus is a stunning achievement.

Patricia Churchland, PhD

UC President's Professor of Philosophy Emerita, UCSD Author of Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain (Norton)

{The powerful core of Baars’ model of consciousness is the global workspace, a kind of central bulletin board. It allows scores of specialized mental subsystems (expert but narrow) to contribute to the resolution of novel problems. Baars is careful and thoughtful, and shows constant concern for the testability of his ideas.

Dr. David Galin

Langley Porter Psychiatry Institute, Professor Emeritus UCSF

{The works of Bernard Baars collected here in "On Consciousness: Science and Subjectivity" are among the foundational texts of the scientific study of consciousness. Their influence in cognitive science and philosophy of mind is enormous, and their impact on my own thinking has been profound.

Murray Shanahan, PhD

Professor of Cognitive Robotics Dept of Computing, Imperial College London; Senior Research Scientist, DeepMind

{Consciousness will not become acceptable to science without three 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 three fronts, and On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity raises a high bar for all future exploration in the field.

Deepak Chopra, MD

Author of METAHUMAN (Harmony)

{This highly readable encyclopedic volume spans some thirty plus years of work by one of the cardinal figures in the modern scientific research on consciousness. It presents an evolving view of the Global Workspace Theory, arguably the most widely accepted scientific theory of consciousness today. Dr. Baars has been a tireless advocate for the importance of consciousness as a topic of serious scientific research. This volume is a befitting testament to his genius.

Zoran Josipovic, PhD

Principal Investigator & Cofounder, Nonduality Institute Research associate at NYU Langone Medical Center and adjunct assistant professor for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology, New York University

{Bernie Baars started, almost single-handedly, the “consciousness revolution” in cognitive psychology over 30 years ago. In this book we can trace, through the re-publication of all the major original sources, the entire path from the first versions of his Global Workspace Theory, published over 30 years ago, to its current state and towards its future prospects as a unified theory of consciousness and the brain. Bernie Baars is a giant on whose shoulders the future science of consciousness will stand.

Antti Revonsuo, PhD

Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Skövde, Sweden Prof of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland; Assoc Editor of Consciousness and Cognition, An Int'l Journal

{The sweep and readability of this book are remarkable. Ranging from cell physiology to cognitive states of mind, Baars shows himself to be a master of neurophenomenology from the ground up. In this rich book, On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity, we are treated to a detailed exploration of the brain processes that undergird our ordinary day to day, moment to moment, ongoing conscious experience. 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. One has the feeling that the shadow of William James falls across every page. As with James, Baars’ writes in an effortless and deeply thoughtful voice, populated by the kinds of details and reflections that mark a scientist who has spent a lifetime becoming intimately familiar with his topic.

Allan Leslie Combs, PhD

Director & Professor CIIS Center for Consciousness Studies

{A clear-eyed, open-minded analysis of the problems of consciousness, and a wide-ranging synthesis of a variety of approaches. For those who want to join the race to model consciousness, this is the starting line.

Daniel C. Dennett, PhD

Co-Director, Center for Cognitive Studies University Professor Austin B Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, Tufts University

{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 read "ON CONSCIOUSNESS" before they make that assumption. Dr. Baars' latest book is a magnificent achievement.

Stanley Krippner, PhD

Professor of Psychology Saybrook University

{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. This book by Bernard Baars, a pioneer in the field and originator of the theory, represents a 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. "On Consciousness" is an indispensable addition to the library of both students and experts who study consciousness.

George A. Mashour, MD, PhD

Director, Center for Consciousness Science Professor of Anesthesiology, Neurosurgery, Neuroscience, and Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

{Bernard Baars enjoys a dual distinction: He is both one of the pioneers of the cognitive study of consciousness and currently one of its most important contributors. His work is solid, cleanly written, accessible, and based on a mass of compelling empirical findings, deftly integrated. To my knowledge, no one in this field since William James has achieved a better balance of inclusive scope and detailed application.

Bruce Mangan

Senior Research Associate, University of California, Merced (formally) Institute of Cognitive and Brain Studies, University of California, Berkeley

{Over the past several decades, Bernard Baars has launched a new science to understand the human mind and the brain, with a novel approach of looking across scientific and philosophical disciplines to understand the elements that combine to form human consciousness. "On Consciousness: Science and Subjectivity" highlights Baars’ strongly scientific approach combined with his brilliant creativity as he forges new ways of thinking about ancient questions. It is a stunning achievement!

Nicole Gage, PhD

Research Professor, Retired, Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine

Global Workspace Theory from soup to nuts.

Global Workspace Theory is a widely used framework for the role of conscious and unconscious experiences in the functioning of the brain, as I first suggested in 1983.

Empirical progress since the 1980s has been spectacular. It therefore seems timely to republish successive stages of evidence and theory of the brain’s global workspace. They cover thirty years during which consciousness re-emerged from decades of neglect. Evidence and ideas are still coming in, but our fundamental evidence is as solid as ever. In traditional scientific fashion, our basic evidence remains stable while ideas continue to evolve.

Books by Baars

"Fundamentals of Cognitive Neuroscience 2nd Edition Nicole Gage Bernard Baars"

"In The Theater of Consciousness Bernard Baars"

"Cognition, Brain, and Consciousness Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience"

"A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness by Bernard J. Baars"

"Fundamentals of Cognitive Neuroscience"

"Cognition Brain and Consciousness Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience 2nd Edition Bernard Baars"

"Experimental Slips and Human Error: Exploring the Architecture of Volition - Cognition and Language - A Series in Psycholinguistics by Bernard J. Baars"

"Books by Bernard Baars Das Schauspiel des Denkens Neurowissenschaftliche Erkundungen"

Acclaimed Books

Peer Reviewed Papers + Published Articles

Citations

Praise for Baars' book, ON CONSCIOUSNESS: Science & Subjectivity

{

A bird's eye view of the brain with many exciting insights of its complex workings. An enjoyable read by an expert authority.

- GYÖRGY BUZSÁKI, MD, PHD

Author of Rhythms of the Brain; The Brain from Inside Out (OUP)

About Bernie Baars

Illustration by Jolyon Troscianko

Bernard J. Baars, PhD

Bernie Baars is Co-founder & Editor in Chief of the Society for MindBrain Sciences, a former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at The Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, CA., and currently an Affiliated Fellow there. He is best known as the originator of the global workspace theory, a theory of human cognitive architecture and consciousness.

Bernie is recipient of the 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Life Contribution Award by the International Neural Network Society recognizing work in perception proven to be paradigm changing and long lasting.

More about Bernie...

THE BLOG

@BAARSLAB

#27 – Is Willpower Like Muscle Power? with Roy F. Baumeister

by Bernard J. Baars | Apr 6, 2023

EXPLORING THE SCIENCE OF EGO DEPLETION & WILLPOWER WITH PSYCHOLOGIST ROY F. BAUMEISTER Episode 27 features Professor Roy Baumeister, one of the world’s most prolific and influential psychologists, known for his work on the self, social rejection,...

#26 – SMELL, TASTE & CONSCIOUSNESS: A Special Interview with Neurobiologist, Dr. Stuart Firestein.

by Bernard J. Baars | Feb 19, 2023

The olfactory system detects molecular odorants. It has both similarities and differences from the other senses. We often talk about five major senses: vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Actually, there are more than five, like pain, sensory...

#25 – Human Consciousness & AI: What Does the Future Hold? A Special Interview with Dr. Susan Schneider

by Bernard J. Baars | Dec 27, 2022

Dr. Susan Schneider is Founding Director of FAU's Center for the Future Mind, and co-director of the MPCR Lab at FAU's new Gruber Sandbox, a large facility which builds AI systems drawing from neuroscience research and philosophical developments.For the last 200,000...

#24 – “The Conscious Brain Evolved” with Jay Giedd, David Edelman & Mark Mitton

by Bernard J. Baars | Nov 20, 2022

The home of the late Nobel Laureate, Gerald Edelman, is the setting for an elevated discussion on human consciousness among three neuroscientists and a professional magician. Bernie Baars opens the discussion by asking what is on top of everyone’s...

#23 – Global Workspace Theory (GWT) and Prefrontal Cortex: Recent Developments (Baars et al., 2021)

by Bernard J. Baars | Oct 15, 2022

“One of the major errors in the Raccah et al. (2021) paper is that Raccah and his co-authors looked at the different brain regions as separate “neighborhoods,” without taking into consideration the functional interactions between its different parts.” - Bernard...

#22: Consciousness Has an Integrative Function

by Bernard J. Baars | Oct 1, 2022

“Can consciousness be seen as the key to understanding our surroundings and organizing our actions?" - David Edelman, PhD, Neuroscientist and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College Episode 22 of our podcast...

THE PODCAST

on consciousness with bernard baars

Open-minded conversations on new ideas about the scientific study of consciousness and the brain.

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