A Spiking Neuron Model of Cortical Broadcast and
Competition
Murray Shanahan
Abstract
This paper presents a computer model of cortical broadcast and
competition based on spiking neurons and inspired by the hypothesis of
a global neuronal workspace underlying conscious information processing
in the human brain. In the model, the hypothesised workspace is
realised by a collection of recurrently inter-connected regions capable
of sustaining and disseminating a reverberating spatial pattern of
activation. At the same time, the workspace remains susceptible to new
patterns arriving from outlying cortical populations. Competition among
these cortical populations for influence on the workspace is effected
by a combination of mutual inhibition and top-down amplification.