Neural Networks and the Emergence of Consciousness

摘要

After a brief account of a two-stage model for awareness, the continuum neural field theory model is described as a possible neural network to help explain one of the most puzzling features of phenomenal experience, that of the relatively long temporal duration of the neural activity involved. The model allows for an explanation of this by means of long-lived "bubbles" of activity caused by recurrence in the neural field; this is related to experimental data on traces observed in auditory and visual cortices, and also to some of the specific features of phenomenal experience.