As a rule, the farther removed a region of the visual brain is from the retina, the more strongly felt is consciousness’ influence. As expectations, biases, and memory come to play a larger role in higher regions of the brain, the impact of the external world weakens correspondingly. The subjective mind manifests itself most strongly in the upper echelon of the cortex. That is its habitat. This implies that not just any cortical activity is sufficient for conscious sensation. Even though a million neurons in the primary visual cortex are busily firing away, their exuberant spiking may not give
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