Consciousness, Decision-Making and Neural Computation
December 31, 2010 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1452-1_9 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Consciousness Action physics Qualia Cognitive science Probabilistic logic Unconscious mind Order exchange Artificial intelligence Cognition |
| Citations | 53 |
| Key points | Proposes that higher order syntactic thoughts solve the credit assignment problem in correcting multi-step syntactic plans, providing an adaptive function for consciousness. |
Abstract
AbstractComputational processes that are closely related to conscious processing and reasoning are described. Evidence is reviewed that there are two routes to action, the explicit, conscious, one involving reasoning, and an implicit, unconscious route for well-learned actions to obtain goals. Then a higher order syntactic thought (HOST) computational theory of consciousness is described. It is argued that the adaptive value of higher order syntactic thoughts is to solve the credit assignment problem that arises if a multi-step syntactic plan needs to be corrected.