Modelling attention is the equivalent of awareness.

Graziano is intrigued by the brain’s ability to ‘do’ attention. He believes it holds the key to awareness, or consciousness. The brain makes models of everything it perceives through the sensory system. It naturally prioritises these models in order to select behaviour. We call this attention. The brain also makes a model of this prioritisation process. This particular model, Graziano believes, is awareness. This might be just another way of saying that we are conscious of what we are paying attention to. He seeks to support his theory by reference to a thorough analysis of selected features of the brain’s architecture. He also sketches a brief theory as to why this account makes sense from an evolutionary perspective.

Link to book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Consciousness-Social-Brain-Michael-Graziano/dp/0190263199/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506081061&sr=1-1&keywords=Consciousness+and+the+social+brain+by+Michael+Graziano

You may also like to browse other neuroscience books: https://www.thesentientrobot.com/category/neuroscience/neuroscience-books/