Integrating the global neuronal workspace into the framework of predictive processing: towards a working hypothesis
Abstract
Hohwy (2013) proposed an account of conscious access that integrates the global neuronal workspace (GNW) into the framework of predictive processing, a view that I term the predictive global neuronal workspace (PGNW). Whilst promising, the PGNW is theoretically underdeveloped and empirically underexplored. The aim of this article is to outline the empirical predictions that distinguish the PGNW from other workspace models. I do so by (i) placing the PGNW in close contact with experimental work and cashing out a set of predictions that distinguish it from the standard formulation of the GNW, (ii) exploring the evidence for the first of these predictions in the context of bistable perception and the conscious processing of auditory regularities, and (iii), contrasting the PGNW with Chanes and Barrett (2016) limbic workspace. Combined, these arguments show that the PGNW is both testable and supported by current evidence.
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This may explain the historical affinity between Active Inference based accounts of consciousness and Global Workspace Theory.
“This may explain the historical affinity between Active Inference based accounts of consciousness and Global Workspace Theory (Hohwy, 2013; Whyte, 2019), which identifies access consciousness as the primary (and perhaps exclusive) explanandum for the science of consciousness (Cohen & Dennett, 2011; Dehaene et al., 2006; Naccache, 2018).”
From Integrated information and predictive processing theories of consciousness: An adversarial collaborative review (2026) · cites this paper as Whyte, 2019
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Self-citationOn the minimal theory of consciousness implicit in active inference
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- Authors
- Whyte, C. J.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Whyte, Christopher J.
- Venue
- Consciousness and Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-08
- Volume
- 73
- Pages
- 102763
- ISSN
- 1053-8100 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2951753437
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 8
- FWCI
- 0.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Consciousness and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
- Keywords
- global neuronal workspace theory, predictive processing, conscious access, bistable perception, auditory regularity, empirical prediction
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Consciousness, Humans, Models, Biological, Perception, Anticipation, Psychological
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