Global workspace
Global Workspace Theory is a broad framework for the role of conscious experiences in the functioning of the brain, first suggested by cognitive scientist Bernard J. Baars in 1983. 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. Global Workspace Theory (GWT) therefore assumes that the brain can be viewed as a "society of mind." Our knowledge of the cortex, in particular, is consistent with the hypothesis that much of the brain consists of highly specialized regions. Detailed cortical processing of visual information, for example, is largely unconscious, but the outcome of visual processes is a conscious experience of objects and scenes. As predicted by GW Theory, there is evidence that visual contents evoked highly distributed activity in non-visual regions of the brain. In GWT this is called "broadcasting" of global messages to multiple target functions. <review> A minor edit to associate this article with the category Consciousness</review>
