If you’re living in a society, it helps to be able to model what other people are thinking and feeling in order to interact with them productively. To do this, you have to understand consciousness in an abstract way. You have to understand that your consciousness is only your perspective, not an objective account of reality, and that adds an additional level of insight and self-reflection into the equation. It’s worth noting that there is a specific disorder in which this aspect of consciousness is impaired: autism. Most of the appeal of Attention Schema Theory, to me, lies in its placement of consciousness as a fully integrated function of the brain. It doesn’t suppose any epiphenomenal aura that happens to be layered on top of normal brain function but that serves no real purpose. Instead, it says that consciousness is used in decision-making. It presents an evolutionary schema of why we might be conscious and also why we tend to attribute consciousness (especially emotions) to others. It explains, somewhat, why consciousness is inaccurate and malleable: it’s not built to represent everything about the real world faithfully, it’s just meant to be a handy reference schematic. neuroblog.stanford.edu/?p=4513
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 08:13:50 +0000
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