Extending Gurwitsch’s field theory of consciousness

• Published in: Consciousness and cognition 2015-07, Vol.34, p.104-123
• Main Authors: Yoshimi, Jeff, Vinson, David W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attention; Cognition & reasoning; Consciousness; Consciousness - physiology; Embodied cognition; Global neuronal workspace; Gurwitsch; History, 20th Century; Humans; Inattention; Meta-stable dynamics; Neural correlates of consciousness; Neuropsychology; Phenomenology; Predictive coding; Psychological Theory; Psychology - history; Small world networks; Theory
• ISSN: 1053-8100; 1090-2376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.03.017

•We describe and extend Aron Gurwitsch’s field theory of consciousness.•The field of consciousness has a complex, dynamic, internal structure.•The field of consciousness has a variable-size focus and structured periphery.•Conscious data causally influence one another via small-world-networks.•Consciousness proceeds smoothly or abruptly based on predictive networks. Aron Gurwitsch’s theory of the structure and dynamics of consciousness has much to offer contemporary theorizing about consciousness and its basis in the embodied brain. On Gurwitsch’s account, as we develop it, the field of consciousness has a variable sized focus or “theme” of attention surrounded by a structured periphery of inattentional contents. As the field evolves, its contents change their status, sometimes smoothly, sometimes abruptly. Inner thoughts, a sense of one’s body, and the physical environment are dominant field contents. These ideas can be linked with (and help unify) contemporary theories about the neural correlates of consciousness, inattention, the small world structure of the brain, meta-stable dynamics, embodied cognition, and predictive coding in the brain.