Extending the global workspace theory to emotion: phenomenality without access

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Psychology

Background:

• Global workspace theory posits consciousness arises from transient functional connections in thalamo-cortico-cortical networks.
• The role of emotions in shaping consciousness within this framework remains unclear.
• Connectivity levels are thought to determine conscious states.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of emotion in the neural workspace theory of consciousness.
• To examine if unconscious and conscious emotional versus neutral facial expressions differentially modulate EEG coherence.
• To extend understanding of the global workspace architecture of consciousness.

Main Methods:

• Participants viewed masked (unconscious) and unmasked (conscious) emotional and neutral facial expressions.
• Electroencephalography (EEG) coherence was measured between frontal, parietal, and midline scalp sites.
• Objective awareness checks confirmed preclusion of conscious identification for masked expressions.

Main Results:

• Reduced EEG coherence in lower frequencies was observed for masked versus unmasked neutral faces.
• This reduction in EEG coherence was not found for emotional facial expressions.
• EEG coherence varied with awareness for neutral stimuli but not for emotional stimuli.

Conclusions:

• Unconscious emotional processes modulate EEG coherence, independent of awareness.
• This finding suggests emotional content influences neural workspace dynamics.
• The study extends current models of the global workspace architecture of consciousness.