The Misunderstood Higher-Order Approach to Consciousness

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/xpy8h
• Publication Date: 2019-01-08T04:41:04Z
• Authors: Richard Brown; Hakwan Lau; Joseph LeDoux
• Keywords: Position (finance)

Critics have often misunderstood the higher-order theory (HOT) of consciousness. Here we clarify its position on several issues, and distinguish it from other views such as global workspace (GWT) early sensory models, first-order local recurrency theory. The criticism that HOT overintellectualizes conscious experience is inaccurate because in reality assumes minimal cognitive functions for consciousness; this sense an intermediate between GWT views, plausibly accounts shortcomings both. Further, compared to existing theories, can more readily account complex everyday experiences, emotions episodic memories, make potentially useful a framework conceptualizing pathological mental states.