A model of the hierarchy of behaviour, cognition, and consciousness

• Published in: Consciousness and cognition Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 75 - 118
• Main Author: Toates, Frederick
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.03.2006; Elsevier; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Affect; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Attention; Automaticity; Automatism; Basal Ganglia - physiology; Behavior; Behavioral psychophysiology; Behavioural hierarchy; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Consciousness; Consciousness - physiology; Determinism; Development; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Goal; Habit; Habits; Hippocampus; Hippocampus - physiology; Humans; Modal action pattern; Motivation; Pain - physiopathology; Prefrontal cortex; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reflex; Social Behavior; Vision, Ocular - physiology; Will; Reflex; Determinism; Consciousness; Modal action pattern; Cognition; Prefrontal cortex; Habit; Behavioural hierarchy; Goal; Motivation; Development; Automaticity; Will; Hippocampus; Human; Central nervous system; Encephalon; Hierarchy; Models; Behavior
• ISSN: 1053-8100; 1090-2376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2005.04.008

Processes comparable in important respects to those underlying human conscious and non-conscious processing can be identified in a range of species and it is argued that these reflect evolutionary precursors of the human processes. A distinction is drawn between two types of processing: (1) stimulus-based and (2) higher-order. For ‘higher-order,’ in humans the operations of processing are themselves associated with conscious awareness. Conscious awareness sets the context for stimulus-based processing and its end-point is accessible to conscious awareness. However, the mechanics of the translation between stimulus and response proceeds without conscious control. The paper argues that higher-order processing is an evolutionary addition to stimulus-based processing. The model’s value is shown for gaining insight into a range of phenomena and their link with consciousness. These include brain damage, learning, memory, development, vision, emotion, motor control, reasoning, the voluntary versus involuntary debate, and mental disorder.