Baars Bernard J
The Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Dv., San Diego, CA 92121, USA.
Prog Brain Res. 2005;150:45-53. doi: 10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50004-9.
Global workspace (GW) theory emerged from the cognitive architecture tradition in cognitive science. Newell and co-workers were the first to show the utility of a GW or "blackboard" architecture in a distributed set of knowledge sources, which could cooperatively solve problems that no single constituent could solve alone. The empirical connection with conscious cognition was made by Baars (1988, 2002). GW theory generates explicit predictions for conscious aspects of perception, emotion, motivation, learning, working memory, voluntary control, and self systems in the brain. It has similarities to biological theories such as Neural Darwinism and dynamical theories of brain functioning. Functional brain imaging now shows that conscious cognition is distinctively associated with wide spread of cortical activity, notably toward frontoparietal and medial temporal regions. Unconscious comparison conditions tend to activate only local regions, such as visual projection areas. Frontoparietal hypometabolism is also implicated in unconscious states, including deep sleep, coma, vegetative states, epileptic loss of consciousness, and general anesthesia. These findings are consistent with the GW hypothesis, which is now favored by a number of scientists and philosophers.
全局工作空间（GW）理论源自认知科学中的认知架构传统。纽厄尔及其同事率先展示了GW或“黑板”架构在分布式知识源中的效用，这些知识源能够协同解决单个组件无法独自解决的问题。与有意识认知的实证联系由巴尔斯（1988年、2002年）建立。GW理论对大脑中感知、情感、动机、学习、工作记忆、自主控制和自我系统的有意识方面产生了明确的预测。它与诸如神经达尔文主义等生物学理论以及大脑功能的动力学理论有相似之处。功能性脑成像现在表明，有意识认知与广泛的皮层活动显著相关，尤其是朝着额顶叶和颞叶内侧区域。无意识比较条件往往仅激活局部区域，如视觉投射区。额顶叶代谢减退也与无意识状态有关，包括深度睡眠、昏迷、植物人状态、癫痫性意识丧失和全身麻醉。这些发现与GW假说一致，该假说现在受到许多科学家和哲学家的青睐。
