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Murray Shanahan, Professor of Computing, Imperial College London
November 24, 2009

Cognitive integration is achieved when expertise in diverse domains is brought together to solve a problem that an animal (human or otherwise) hasn't encountered previously. In neural terms, cognitive integration requires the formation of novel coalitions of brain processes. The brain's repertoire of process coalitions must be open-ened not confined to the tried-and-tested. So how might this requirement be met? The tentative answer on offer here draws on the idea of a global neuronal workspace, incorporates recent findings in brain structural connectivity, and is illustrated with a series of computer models.