The Future Evolution of Consciousness

ABSTRACT. What potential exists for improvements in the functioning of consciousness? The paper addresses this issue using global workspace theory. According to this model, the prime function of consciousness is to develop novel adaptive responses. Consciousness does this by putting together new combinations of knowledge, skills and other disparate resources that are recruited from throughout the brain. The paper’s search for potential improvements in the functioning of consciousness draws on studies of the shift during human development from the use of implicit knowledge to the use of explicit (declarative) knowledge. These studies show that the ability of consciousness to adapt a particular domain improves significantly as the transition to the use of declarative knowledge occurs in that domain. However, this potential for consciousness to enhance adaptability has not yet been realised to any extent in relation to consciousness itself. The paper assesses the potential for adaptability to be improved by the conscious adaptation of key processes that constitute consciousness. A number of sources (including the practices of religious and contemplative traditions) are drawn on to investigate how this potential might be realised

An examination of the mediating role of salt knowledge and beliefs on the relationship between socio-demographic factors and discretionary salt use: a cross-sectional study

Background Discretionary salt use varies according to socio-demographic factors. However, it is unknown whether salt knowledge and beliefs mediate this relationship. This study examined the direct and indirect effect of socio-demographic factors on salt knowledge and discretionary salt use in a sample of 530 Australian adults.Methods An internet based cross-sectional survey was used to collect data for this study. Participants completed an online questionnaire which assessed their salt knowledge, beliefs and salt use behaviour. Mplus was used to conduct structural equation modelling to estimate direct and indirect effects.Results The mean age of the participants was 49.2 years, and about a third had tertiary education. Discretionary salt use was inversely related to age (r=-0.11; p&lt;0.05), and declarative salt knowledge (knowledge of factual information) scores (r = -0.17; p&lt;0.01), but was positively correlated with misconceptions about salt (r = 0.09; p&lt;0.05) and beliefs about the taste of salt (r = 0.51; p&lt;0.001). Structural equation modelling showed age, education and gender were indirectly associated with the use of discretionary salt through three mediating pathways; declarative salt knowledge, misconceptions about salt and salt taste beliefs.Conclusions Inequalities observed between socio-demographic groups in their use of discretionary salt use can potentially be reduced through targeted salt knowledge and awareness campaigns.<br /

Enhancing declarative process models with DMN decision logic

Modeling dynamic, human-centric, non-standardized and knowledge-intensive business processes with imperative process modeling approaches is very challenging. Declarative process modeling approaches are more appropriate for these processes, as they offer the run-time flexibility typically required in these cases. However, by means of a realistic healthcare process that falls in the aforementioned category, we demonstrate in this paper that current declarative approaches do not incorporate all the details needed. More specifically, they lack a way to model decision logic, which is important when attempting to fully capture these processes. We propose a new declarative language, Declare-R-DMN, which combines the declarative process modeling language Declare-R with the newly adopted OMG standard Decision Model and Notation. Aside from supporting the functionality of both languages, Declare-R-DMN also creates bridges between them. We will show that using this language results in process models that encapsulate much more knowledge, while still offering the same flexibility

Making sense of step-by-step procedures

Procedural instructions that consist of only a sequence of steps will probably be executable, but nevertheless ¿meaningless¿ to users of technical devices. The paper discusses three features that can make procedural instructions more meaningful: adding functional coordinating information, adding information about the use of the technical device in real life, and adding operational information about how the device works. The research literature supports the effectiveness of the first feature, but offers little evidence that real life elements enhance understanding of instructions. As for operational information, the research suggests that users are willing to read it, and that it contributes to better understanding and performance in the long term, but only if it is closely related to the procedure. As a conclusion, we propose a theoretical framework that assumes three levels of mental representation of instructions: syntactical, semantic, and situationa

A conceptual architecture for interactive educational multimedia

Learning is more than knowledge acquisition; it often involves the active participation of the learner in a variety of knowledge- and skills-based learning and training activities. Interactive multimedia technology can support the variety of interaction channels and languages required to facilitate interactive learning and teaching. A conceptual architecture for interactive educational multimedia can support the development of such multimedia systems. Such an architecture needs to embed multimedia technology into a coherent educational context. A framework based on an integrated interaction model is needed to capture learning and training activities in an online setting from an educational perspective, to describe them in the human-computer context, and to integrate them with mechanisms and principles of multimedia interaction

Challenging the role of implicit processes in probabilistic category learning

Considerable interest in the hypothesis that different cognitive tasks recruit qualitatively distinct processing systems has led to the proposal of separate explicit (declarative) and implicit (procedural) systems. A popular probabilistic category learning task known as the weather prediction task is said to be ideally suited to examine this distinction because its two versions, '' observation '' and '' feedback,'' are claimed to recruit the declarative and procedural systems, respectively. In two experiments, we found results that were inconsistent with this interpretation. In Experiment 1, a concurrent memory task had a detrimental effect on the implicit (feedback) version of the task. In Experiment 2, participants displayed comparable and accurate insight into the task and their judgment processes in the feedback and observation versions. These findings have important implications for the study of probabilistic category learning in both normal and patient populations

Glucose and cognitive performance : the effects of glucose on memory and sustained attention : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

The effects of glucose on tasks of declarative memory, and sustained attention were examined. These effects were also investigated with regard to the age of the participant. Standard glucose and placebo conditions were run and also a natural history condition to analyse the possibility of a placebo effect. Twelve young and twelve older adults participated in the study. Over three separate morning sessions, participants ingested either the glucose or the placebo drink, or nothing for the natural history condition, and completed the cognitive tasks. The between-group factor was age of the participant (young or older adult). The within-group factor was the type of drink ingested (glucose, placebo, or natural history). The effects of glucose on the sustained attention task were investigated over time, divided into 10 × 2 min periods. No effects of drink were found in regard to overall task performance for either age group. There was one main effect for period on one measure of the sustained attention task. There was also an associated interaction effect for this measure. Trends in the data pointed towards the possibility of the existence of a placebo effect. The placebo condition yielded consistently better performance than the other two conditions on most tasks. These results were discussed in light of the possible existence of a placebo effect, and the condition-specific effects of glucose

Implicit and explicit learning in ACT-R

A useful way to explain the notions of implicit and explicit learning in ACT-R is to define implicit learning as learning by ACT-R's learning mechanisms, and explicit learning as the results of learning goals. This idea complies with the usual notion of implicit learning as unconscious and always active and explicit learning as intentional and conscious. Two models will be discussed to illustrate this point. First a model of a classical implicit memory task, the SUGARFACTORY scenario by Berry & Broadbent (1984) will be discussed, to show how ACT-R can model implicit learning. The second model is of the so-called Fincham task (Anderson & Fincham, 1994), and exhibits both implicit and explicit learning