The Evolutionary Origins of Consciousness

Feinberg, Todd E.; Mallatt, Jon

doi:10.1142/9789814644266_0002

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 146 publications

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“…2017 ). However, from most current evolutionary perspectives, minimal consciousness vastly predates the evolution of mammals endowed with a neocortex ( Merker 2007 ; Ginsburg and Jablonka 2007a , b ; Barron and Klein 2016 ; Feinberg and Mallatt 2016 ). If this is indeed the case and if the GNW theory is a general framework for consciousness, how can consciousness become implemented in animals that lack a neocortex, such as birds, reptiles, or fish?…”

Section: Introduction: the Global Neuronal Workpace And Unlimited Ass...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolutionary origins of the Global Neuronal Workspace in vertebrates

Zacks,

Jablonka

2023

Neuroscience of Consciousness

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The Global Neuronal Workspace theory of consciousness offers an explicit functional architecture that relates consciousness to cognitive abilities such as perception, attention, memory, and evaluation. We show that the functional architecture of the Global Neuronal Workspace, which is based mainly on human studies, corresponds to the cognitive-affective architecture proposed by the Unlimited Associative Learning theory that describes minimal consciousness. However, we suggest that when applied to basal vertebrates, both models require important modifications to accommodate what has been learned about the evolution of the vertebrate brain. Most importantly, comparative studies suggest that in basal vertebrates, the Global Neuronal Workspace is instantiated by the event memory system found in the hippocampal homolog. This proposal has testable predictions and implications for understanding hippocampal and cortical functions, the evolutionary relations between memory and consciousness, and the evolution of unified perception.

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Section: Introduction: the Global Neuronal Workpace And Unlimited Ass...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolutionary origins of the Global Neuronal Workspace in vertebrates

Zacks,

Jablonka

2023

Neuroscience of Consciousness

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“…Such organisms would include Cnidaria like Hydra , with one opening serving as mouth and anus giving access to a body cavity, and the initial bilaterally symmetric organism with a separate mouth and anus connected by a gut system that had a limited capacity to move and no differentiated sensory organs ( Evans et al, 2020 ; Köteles, 2021 ). Indeed, one could speculate that during the food-abundance times of the Ediacaran, such ancient worm-like organisms with nerve nets around their body cavity would have “needed only to follow chemical “reward gradients” of odors and taste molecules toward the food” ( Feinberg and Mallatt, 2016 , p. 62).…”

Section: Extending the Embodiment Traditional Framework: Ha...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Minding the gut: extending embodied cognition and perception to the gut complex

Boem,

Greslehner,

Konsman

et al. 2024

Front. Neurosci.

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Scientific and philosophical accounts of cognition and perception have traditionally focused on the brain and external sense organs. The extended view of embodied cognition suggests including other parts of the body in these processes. However, one organ has often been overlooked: the gut. Frequently conceptualized as merely a tube for digesting food, there is much more to the gut than meets the eye. Having its own enteric nervous system, sometimes referred to as the “second brain,” the gut is also an immune organ and has a large surface area interacting with gut microbiota. The gut has been shown to play an important role in many physiological processes, and may arguably do so as well in perception and cognition. We argue that proposals of embodied perception and cognition should take into account the role of the “gut complex,” which considers the enteric nervous, endocrine, immune, and microbiota systems as well as gut tissue and mucosal structures. The gut complex is an interface between bodily tissues and the “internalized external environment” of the gut lumen, involved in many aspects of organismic activity beyond food intake. We thus extend current embodiment theories and suggest a more inclusive account of how to “mind the gut” in studying cognitive processes.

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“…Additionally, there is evidence that valence may be an important part of the semantic representation of taste and smell 9,48 . Moreover, there is increasing evidence that sensory receptors and neural circuits code sensory information in terms of an emotional valence and that this initially fast system may be involved in complex cognition such as in experiencing and naming emotions 49,50 .…”

Section: The Organization Of Semantic Associations Between Senses In ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The organization of semantic associations between senses in language

Alvarado¹,

Velasco²,

Salgado-Flores³

2023

Preprint

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We took advantage of the semantic proximity captured by Word Embeddings to identify semantic associations between senses, as embedded in language. We explored the structure of the network of semantic associations between senses arising from English word vectors of different sense modalities that are especially closer to each other. Our results lead to semantic domains where closer associations between the senses emerge. Such domains are related to functional and physico-chemical dimensions and exhibit affective differences. Our research shows that language reflects on an abstract level, the organization of associations between the senses, and therefore, it is an effective means to study them. Furthermore, our crossmodal semantic association network provides a novel approach to study the associations between the senses which has implications both for research and practice.

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The Evolutionary Origins of Consciousness

Cited by 8 publications

References 146 publications

The evolutionary origins of the Global Neuronal Workspace in vertebrates

The evolutionary origins of the Global Neuronal Workspace in vertebrates

Minding the gut: extending embodied cognition and perception to the gut complex

The organization of semantic associations between senses in language

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