Making Progress on the Prefrontal Debate

Abstract

The role of prefrontal cortex in conscious perception: a joint proposal As prefrontalist and localist the the concerning the role of PFC in experience. To the two opposing localist perspective views the entire cortical mantle as a mosaic of local cortical areas—each underlying a different and unique category of conscious contents. By contrast, the prefrontalist view, at least the one outlined here—proposes a general, enabling function for PFC for all types of conscious experience. Specifically, following higher-order theories of consciousness, this role is derived from the proposal that conscious experience includes an essential metacognitive element—without which perceptual states remain unconscious. The PFC is proposed to underlie this obligatory metacognitive element, and participate in each and every kind of conscious experience.