We have developed a model for consciousness in which the capability of
focusing the attention
seems to be the same mechanism as the one used for triggering the conscious
mental functions.
This mechanism makes conscious thinking an extension of the voluntary attention
as defined by A.H.Luria.
We will call "Attention Point" the focusing point of the voluntary attention
process. The moving of this point
makes conscious thinking serial, as we can see every day. When a conscious
process is operating,
this point triggers automatic functions by visiting successively their
triggering areas in the mental space.
From an evolution point of view, we will suppose that the emergence of the
mechanism of consciousness
has risen from the basic attention mechanism through an increase of its
triggering possibilities. This
evolution process had could give to the attention point the capacity to move
outside the sensory areas,
opening the possibility of paying attention to abstract notions.
We propose that the consciousness mechanism could be a framework providing
facilities to make possible
the very existence of the high-level non-conscious cerebral functions such as
intelligence, long-term memory,
reasoning,... One of the most important of these facilities would be to provide
these mental functions with a
timing coherence due to a kind of consistency mechanism. Thereby such a timing
consistency could be the
consequence of the seriality of the conscious activation of the automatic mental
functions.
This model differs from the GW model defined by BJ. Baars where the
sequentiality of the conscious processes
appears to be a by-product of the shortage of neural resources needed to run
them. It differs also from the
models where consciousness consist of giving meaning to perceptions.
F. Anceau, Vers une étude objective de la conscience, Hermès Science, Paris, 1999