Control and valuation in human cognition

A theoretical model of human cognition that attempts to explain how cognition is controlled and how humans determine what is important is outlined. There are three concepts critical to the model: motivational states (goals) structure and control all cognitive processes; a top-level mechanism controls and integrates processing of conscious and unconscious streams of cognition; and goals are selected for processing after valuation by up to four methods: reward system, drives, emotions, and rationality. The model can account for many phenomena from the cognitive psychology literature including motivational states, activation, attention, and consciousness. The model is compared with competing theories