Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39666558›Full record

ReviewPsychological review2025

Theories of consciousness from the perspective of an embedded processes view.

Nelson Cowan, Nick I Ahmed, Chenye Bao, Mackenzie N Cissne, Ronald D Yee-Flores, Roman M Gutierrez, Braden Hayse, Madison L Musich, Hamid Nourbakhshi, Nanan Nuraini and 4 more

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Psychological review, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Nelson CowanDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.ORCID 0000-0003-3711-4338
Nick I AhmedDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Chenye BaoDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.ORCID 0000-0003-1460-2742
Mackenzie N CissneDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Ronald D Yee-FloresDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Roman M GutierrezDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Braden HayseDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Madison L MusichDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.ORCID 0000-0002-0811-1878
Hamid NourbakhshiDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.ORCID 0000-0002-6893-3451
Nanan NurainiDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Emily E SchroederDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Neyla SfeirDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Emilie SparrowDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Luísa Superbia-GuimarãesDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.ORCID 0000-0003-0310-7367

Funding

Working memory, attention, and time: Childhood development and adult functionR01HD021338 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA · PI COWAN, NELSON · 1988 to 2023
$7.2M
National Institutes of Health; National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentNICHD NIH HHS R01 HD021338
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Considerable recent research in neurosciences has dealt with the topic of consciousness, even though there is still disagreement about how to identify and classify conscious states. Recent behavioral work on the topic also exists. We survey recent behavioral and neuroscientific literature with the aims of commenting on strengths and weaknesses of the literature and mapping new directions and recommendations for experimental psychologists. We reconcile this literature with a view of human information processing (Cowan, 1988; Cowan et al., 2024) in which a capacity-limited focus of attention is embedded within the activated portion of long-term memory, with dual bottom-up and top-down control of the focus of attention. None of the many extant theories fully captures what we propose as the organization of conscious thought at cognitive and neural levels. It seems clear that information from various cognitive functions, based on signals from various brain areas, is integrated into a conscious whole. In our new proposal, the integration involves funneling information to a hub or focus of attention neurally centered in the parietal lobes and functionally connected to areas representing the currently attended information. This funneling process (bringing information from diverse sensory and frontal sources to contact a small parietal area where attended information is coordinated and combined) may be the converse of global broadcasting, from other proposals (Baars et al., 2021; Baars & Franklin, 2003; Dehaene & Changeux, 2011). The proposed system incorporates many principles from previous research and theorization and strives toward a resolution of the relation between consciousness and attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Indexed as

AttentionBrainConsciousnessPsychological TheoryHumans

Identifiers

PMID39666558
PMCPMC12143936

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.