Knower and known explained in terms of attention modelling.
There is much to like about this book. Whilst largely expressed in conceptual terms, Graziano’s attention schema theory envisages a knower and a known. The known is what is attended, self-as-object. The knower is the model of, or neural network constituting, that attention. Awareness constitutes the relationship between them. Thus, self and consciousness are explicitly separated. What is perhaps less clear is why a model of attention should give rise to awareness. The theory recruits mirror neuron networks to explain how that awareness is kickstarted into existence. Once up and running, awareness has causal properties. But the references to one being able to understand one’s own state of mind and thereby guide one’s own behaviour could be seen to look quite like an homunculus.
You may also like to browse other neuroscience books: http://www.thesentientrobot.com/category/neuroscience/neuroscience-books/
