Critique and Comparison of Prevailing Consciousness Models with a Novel Embodied Cognition Model

Abstract

In order to produce insight to the current state of consciousness research, we provide a review of some of the more preeminent models of consciousness via a comparison of these theories with a novel holistic model. The main goal of this review is to present the advantages in theoretical power of an embodied cognition, metastable model of consciousness manifest in the Default Space Theory by comparing it to other popular brain-based metastable models that though provide important insight into the cognitive nature of consciousness, are incomplete in their model of an architecture of consciousness. The Default Space Theory is a world simulation model in which the thalamus fills in processed sensory information from corticothalamic feedback loops into an internal 3D matrix termed the default space. This article examines some of the most regarded brain-based, metastable consciousness models, the Operational Architectonics Theory of Brain-Mind, Global Workspace Theory, Information Integration Theory, and the Dynamic Core Hypothesis. Through an overview and critique of these models, we illustrate their insights and deficits, and discuss why the Default Space Theory is the most comprehensive theory of consciousness.