# Global Workspace Theory Global Workspace Theory (GWT), proposed by [[Bernard Baars]] (1988), explains consciousness as a "global broadcast" system. The brain has many specialized, unconscious processors; consciousness arises when information is broadcast to a global workspace, making it available to multiple systems (memory, language, motor planning) simultaneously. Think of consciousness as a theater spotlight illuminating one thing at a time for the whole audience. Stanislas Dehaene extended GWT into Global Neuronal Workspace Theory, identifying the prefrontal-parietal network as the neural correlate of the global workspace. The theory explains attention, working memory, and why we can only be conscious of one thing at a time. It's one of the leading scientific theories of consciousness, alongside Integrated Information Theory. ## Core Mechanism | Unconscious | Conscious | |-------------|-----------| | Specialized processors | Global broadcast | | Parallel, distributed | Serial, unified | | Not accessible | Available to all systems | ## References - Baars, Bernard. *A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness* (1988) - Dehaene, Stanislas. *Consciousness and the Brain* (2014) ## Related - [[Consciousness]] - [[Attention]] - [[Working Memory]] - [[Cognitive Science]]