A new motor approach to consciousness: Implications for the simulation of future behaviour

In the last ten years, several new scientific approaches to consciousness have emerged. Two in particular have a close relationship to each other: passive frame theory and the attention schema theory. Both take movement control as a starting point, a relatively new perspective on the topic, and both emphasize the importance of consciousness for future, anticipated actions. Passive frame theory proposes that consciousness serves as a field of information that enables flexible, context-sensitive action selection for to-be-produced actions. The attention schema theory suggests that consciousness is related to the control mechanisms for attention, which include models of the world and also of the actor’s own mental processes. This paper (a) discusses the relationship between the two theories and asks whether they can be considered as facets of the same underlying mechanism, and (b) attempts to illuminate how such processes associated with consciousness are essential for the simulation of future, anticipated actions.