A review of recent behavioral and neuroscientific research on consciousness finds that information from various cognitive functions and brain areas is integrated into a conscious whole. The authors propose a new model in which this integration involves funneling information to a hub or focus of attention centered in the parietal lobes, which is functionally connected to areas representing currently attended information. This funneling process is described as the converse of global broadcasting proposed by other theories. The model incorporates many principles from previous research and aims to clarify the relation between consciousness and attention, though no existing theory fully captures the proposed organization of conscious thought.
Scientific theories of human consciousness differ in how much of the brain they require to support conscious experience. Most current theories assume a big-tent, integrated neural substrate that must combine many types of information—sensations, perceptions, thoughts, and emotions. This paper argues that small-tent theories, which propose a more localized neural basis, remain plausible. In a small-tent account, multiple brain processes selectively funnel information into a critical conscious area, but no single input is necessary. The embedded-processes theory exemplifies this, positing that the left and right intraparietal sulcus and their connection form a capacity-limited focus of attention synonymous with consciousness, embedded within a larger field of unconscious memory activation. The paper explores what evidence could determine where on the big-tent to small-tent continuum consciousness falls.