Is One Spring Enough for a Conscious Stream? Comments on Mark Solms' The Hidden Spring

The author agrees with Solms that consciousness is rooted in the brainstem's affective systems, but diverges from Solms' view that the cortex is merely a cognitive elaboration of these affects. The author proposes integrating Solms' key concepts—such as the role of the brainstem's ascending reticular activating system and the distinction between affective and cognitive consciousness—into the global neuronal workspace theory (GNWT). This integration would allow GNWT to account for both the felt, affective dimension of consciousness and the informational, cognitive processes that GNWT traditionally emphasizes.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In this commentary, I discuss my main points of convergence and divergence with Mark Solms' conception of consciousness presented in his very stimulating opus, The Hidden Spring, and then frame two proposals to integrate some of his key concepts into the global neuronal workspace theory (GNWT) of consciousness.