Bernard J. Baars
The Neurosciences Institute
Integrated information Consciousness is intrinsic causal power, measured as integrated information
Bernard J. Baars is a cognitive neuroscientist and former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. He is widely recognized as the originator of Global Workspace Theory (GWT), one of the foundational computational and neurobiological paradigms in contemporary consciousness science.
Baars introduced Global Workspace Theory in A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness (1988) using the architectural metaphor of a theater. In this model, unconscious specialized neural processors operate in parallel across the brain, while conscious processing corresponds to a bright spot on a global stage illuminated by selective attention. When information reaches the central global workspace, it is broadcast widely across the nervous system, allowing otherwise autonomous cognitive routines to synchronize, integrate novel contexts, and guide executive action.
Within artificial intelligence and neural network research, Baars’s global workspace architecture serves as a primary blueprint for integrating specialized transformer layers, memory buffers, and multi-agent coordination systems, defining conscious access as a global information broadcast mechanism independent of biological substrates.
Known for. Global Workspace Theory (GWT), cognitive architecture of conscious access, A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness (1988), In the Theater of Consciousness (1997)
Coverage on this site
Related researchers
- Larissa AlbantakisUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Sleep and ConsciousnessIntegrated Information Theory 4.0 and dissociating intelligence from consciousness in artificial systems
- Costas AnastassiouAllen InstituteEphaptic coupling of cortical neurons, endogenous electric fields as causal participants in neural activity, extracellular field biophysics
- Anton ArkhipovAllen Institute for Brain ScienceLarge-scale neural simulation, biophysically detailed cortical models, AIBRAIN program, State of Brain Emulation Report 2025
- Adam B. BarrettSussex Centre for Consciousness Science, University of SussexContinuous field formulations of Integrated Information Theory, Measure-theoretic Phi, practical complexity measures, Granger causality
-
Yoshua BengioMila, Université de MontréalThe Consciousness Prior, deep learning foundations, Turing Award, global workspace-inspired representation learning
- Melanie BolyDepartment of Neurology, University of Wisconsin-MadisonCo-developer of Integrated Information Theory 4.0 (IIT 4.0), Neural Correlates of Pure Presence, EEG/fMRI consciousness biomarkers, minimal phenomenal experience
Bernard J. Baars is listed with the other integrated information theorists, who hold that consciousness is intrinsic causal power, measured as integrated information. The theory family behind that position is set out in the index of consciousness theories. Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers.