Cognitive Science An Introduction to the Science of the Mind

This chapter introduces challenges posed by the study of consciousness in contemporary cognitive science. The first section looks at conscious and nonconscious information processing in priming experiments and in brain-damaged patients. Building on these findings, the second section explores the functions of consciousness and potential roles the conscious (visual) information can play in the cognitive system. The third section discusses the argument that functional theories could not explain the subjective experience of consciousness but only tackle the "easy" problem of consciousness. The fourth section reviews two of the best-established theories of consciousness – the higher-order thought theory and the global workspace theory.