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The Mind’s Eye: Mental Models in Cognition and Consciousness

The Mind’s Eye: Mental Models in Cognition and Consciousness

by Ralph Lewis | Aug 21, 2025 | Uncategorised

Cognition can be defined as the brain’s ability to build mental models of the world. Such capacity appears to be a crucial ingredient for the emergence of consciousness.
Defining Cognition Matters for Understanding Consciousness

Defining Cognition Matters for Understanding Consciousness

by Ralph Lewis | Aug 14, 2025 | Uncategorised

Cognition lacks a standard definition. A clearer understanding of it and its evolution in animals is key to unlocking the mystery of consciousness, with implications for AI.
How Sentience Emerged From the Ancient Mists of Evolution

How Sentience Emerged From the Ancient Mists of Evolution

by Ralph Lewis | Jan 23, 2025 | Uncategorised

“Neurobiological emergentism” explains how sentience—the subjective feeling aspects of consciousness—developed in ancient animals that evolved the first complex neural systems.
Emotions Are Key to Understanding Consciousness

Emotions Are Key to Understanding Consciousness

by Ralph Lewis | Sep 15, 2024 | Uncategorised

Understanding emotions may be fundamental to understanding subjective experience. Unlike other forms of information processing, you can’t have a feeling without feeling it.
How Does the Brain Actually Produce Emotions?

How Does the Brain Actually Produce Emotions?

by Ralph Lewis | Sep 2, 2024 | Uncategorised

There are competing theories regarding the extent to which emotions are innate, hard-wired, and universal vs. constructed by high-level cognitive processes, experience, and culture.
Where Do Emotions Come From?

Where Do Emotions Come From?

by Ralph Lewis | Aug 22, 2024 | Uncategorised

Scientists disagree on whether the cerebral cortex—the more evolved part of the brain—is necessary for conscious emotional experience, and indeed for consciousness itself.
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  • The Mind’s Eye: Mental Models in Cognition and Consciousness
  • Defining Cognition Matters for Understanding Consciousness
  • How Sentience Emerged From the Ancient Mists of Evolution
  • Emotions Are Key to Understanding Consciousness
  • How Does the Brain Actually Produce Emotions?

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