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The relationship between the development of 21st-century skills and game-based learning is a field to explore. Among the 21-st century skills, critical thinking is one of the most analyzed skills. This study aims to deepen the relationship between learning and disposition to critical thinking (DCT) in the context of Serious Games (SGs). In particular, starting from the evidence of previous work, that highlighted a positive effect of the DCT on game performance, this study analyzes how the DCT also affects the explicit learning gained by the players. This work highlights that the DCT has a crucial role in explicit knowledge acquisition and how the improvement of game performance is a direct consequence of DCT through a path analysis methodology.

Purpose of Review The theory of consciousness is a subject that has kept scholars and researchers challenged for centuries. Even today it is not possible to define what consciousness is. This has led to the theorization of different models of consciousness. Starting from Baars’ Global Workspace Theory, this paper examines the models of cognitive architectures that are inspired by it and that can represent a reference point in the field of robot consciousness. Recent Findings Global Workspace Theory has recently been ranked as the most promising theory in its field. However, this is not reflected in the mathematical models of cognitive architectures inspired by it: they are few, and most of them are a decade old, which is too long compared to the speed at which artificial intelligence techniques are improving. Indeed, recent publications propose simple mathematical models that are well designed for computer implementation. Summary In this paper, we introduce an overview of consciousness and robot consciousness, with some interesting insights from the literature. Then we focus on Baars’ Global Workspace Theory, presenting it briefly. Finally, we report on the most interesting and promising models of cognitive architectures that implement it, describing their peculiarities.