| This chapter aims to provide an overview of existing computational (mechanistic)
models of cognition in relation to the study of consciousness, on the basis
of psychological and philosophical theories and data. It examines various
mechanistic explanations of consciousness in existing computational cognitive
models. Serving as an example for the discussions, a computational model
of the conscious/unconscious interaction, utilizing the representational
difference explanation of consciousness, is described briefly. As a further
example, a software agent model that captures another explanation of consciousness
(the access explanation of consciousness) is also described. The discussions
serve to highlight various possibilities in developing computational models
of consciousness and in providing computational explanations of conscious
and unconscious cognitive processes. |