The Global Neuronal Workspace Theory
Over the past three months, I have been stuck in a cycle of procrastination to finish my entry for the prestigious Breakthrough Junior Challenge. The cycle was so vicious that I found myself awake at 3am two days before deadline day to complete the finishing touches and edit the final version. But we got there! I have submitted my video and am eagerly waiting for the results!
For my entry, I chose the Global Neuronal Workspace Theory as the concept to be explained. Why? Well, about half a year ago, while scrolling through YouTube to find a video to accompany my lunch, I came across a video from a channel called Aperture titled "Quantum Consciousness Theory". I was completely sucked in for the entire 42 minutes as the narrator delved through a full breakdown of the theory and its limitations. From the Orchestrated Objective Reduction model to radical alternatives and to the synthesis of the theory. I began suddenly interested in understanding exactly how we are conscious.
I then began Google searches on the thousands of consciousness theories out there, noting down my own thoughts on every single one. I even made a cool little website that aims to map out new consciousness theories from the general public (try it out!): "https://philosophy-4jdx8od4.manus.space/"
For the video, I chose perhaps one of the most scientifically corroborated theories of them all: the Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT)
In the video, I used Singapore as an analogy for the brain. Here, I will use something slightly different, like a football match.
During a football match, rather any second of it, everything is happening. Everything. The player on the ball, the players off the ball, the manager on the sidelines, the players on the bench, the players warming up, the referees, the commentators, the camera operators scattered around the stadium, the thousands of fans in the stands, the media personnel, the stewards facing the stands, and the ball boys. Everyone, focused on different things. Each camera operator focuses on a different scene, every referee is looking at a different part of the field, some fans on their phones, some screaming their lungs out. Similarly, every moment, your brain is taking in somewhere around 11 million bits of information. From what you see, to what you hear, to what you feel on your skin, to your inner thinking. Each bit of information is processed locally in specialised neuronal groups, some are discarded, some are kept.
And suddenly, something significant happens. A goal, a red card, a penalty. And the entire stadium is suddenly focused on that one thing. This is global ignition. When a bit of information becomes so strongly amplified it crosses the threshold of subliminal processing, triggering a sudden, self-sustaining explosion of neural activity across a widespread network, which brings that piece of information directly into conscious awareness and makes it globally accessible to the rest of the brain.
Now, camera operators can take in that moment, commentators craft lyrics about it, the referee steps in, and the crowd reacts based off that information. Likewise, once a piece of information is globally ignited, all your other brain regions gain access to that information. For example, when meeting someone you know, your visual system recognizes their face, your memory retrieves their name, and your emotional center triggers a feeling of familiarity.
And that is what the GNWT proposes.
Since the proposal of the Global Workspace Theory by Bernard Baars in 1988, and since the extension proposal of the GNWT in 2001 by Stanislas Dehaene and Lionel Naccache, the quest to explain consciousness has transformed and expanded beyond a diverse cohort of disciplines. As scientists begin arguing whether or not 'consciousness' in itself is a field that is inherently futile, let us not forget that the Earth revolving around the Sun was once ridiculed as utter nonsense.
Comments