Abstract
We recently proposed the attention schema theory, a novel way to explain the brain basis of subjective awareness in a mechanistic and scientifically testable manner. The theory begins with attention, the process by which signals compete for the brain’s limited computing resources. This internal signal competition is partly under a bottom–up influence and partly under top–down control. We propose that the top–down control of attention is improved when the brain has access to a simplified model of attention itself. The brain therefore constructs a schematic model of the process of attention, the ‘attention schema,’ in much the same way that it constructs a schematic model of the body, the ‘body schema.’ The content of this internal model leads a brain to conclude that it has a subjective experience. One advantage of this theory is that it explains how awareness and attention can sometimes become dissociated; the brain’s internal models are never perfect, and sometimes a model becomes dissociated from the object being modeled. A second advantage of this theory is that it explains how we can be aware of both internal and external events. The brain can apply attention to many types of information including external sensory information and internal information about emotions and cognitive states. If awareness is a model of attention, then this model should pertain to the same domains of information to which attention pertains. A third advantage of this theory is that it provides testable predictions. If awareness is the internal model of attention, used to help control attention, then without awareness, attention should still be possible but should suffer deficits in control. In this article, we review the existing literature on the relationship between attention and awareness, and suggest that at least some of the predictions of the theory are borne out by the evidence.
Highlights
What is subjective experience, and how could it possibly result from the activity of the brain? Does it serve any useful purpose or is it merely an epiphenomenon arising from the activity of the brain without playing a role in its function? We recently proposed the attention schema theory in an attempt to answer these and other related questions (Graziano and Kastner, 2011; Graziano, 2013; Graziano and Webb, 2014; Kelly et al, 2014)
To assess whether the attention schema theory is supported by the existing evidence, we review the experimental literature concerning the relationship between attention and awareness
We argue that the attention schema theory provides a possible answer to the puzzle of subjective experience
Summary
How could it possibly result from the activity of the brain? Does it serve any useful purpose or is it merely an epiphenomenon arising from the activity of the brain without playing a role in its function? We recently proposed the attention schema theory in an attempt to answer these and other related questions (Graziano and Kastner, 2011; Graziano, 2013; Graziano and Webb, 2014; Kelly et al, 2014). How could it possibly result from the activity of the brain? Does it serve any useful purpose or is it merely an epiphenomenon arising from the activity of the brain without playing a role in its function? We recently proposed the attention schema theory in an attempt to answer these and other related questions (Graziano and Kastner, 2011; Graziano, 2013; Graziano and Webb, 2014; Kelly et al, 2014). The theory proposes that subjective awareness is the brain’s internal model of the process of attention
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