A fundamental paradigm shift is underway in the behavioural neurosciences which promotes renewed discussion of neural correlates of conscious sensation. A growing body of evidence that the primary sensory areas are central to conscious processing is inconsistent with conventional bottom-up models of passive sensory transformation. The new paradigm emphasizes the reciprocal interaction of top-down corticocortical influences with bottom-up sensory feedback. This neural interaction has direct parallels to the interactive computational process that is the basis for the compelling nature of virtual reality. We have developed the new interactive paradigm with respect to the behaviourally relevant N1 component of the somatosensory evoked response in primary somatosensory neocortex which is only observed during conscious states and predicts touch discrimination behaviour. N1 is generated by excitation of layer I in primary sensory neocortex evidently in response to backward projections from higher order cortical areas. The backward corticocortical projections mediating top-down influences are anatomically concentrated in layer I where they strongly excite the subpopulation of pyramidal neurons with extensive distal apical dendrites. This subpopulation includes the forward-projecting pyramids subserving corticocortical reentrance as well as the corticobulbar projections mediating cortical control over fine sensory-oriented movements. The interactive paradigm views conscious sensation as an active behaviour with the optimal spatial resolution of primary areas serving as the sensory-motor interface at the major convergence point between reentrant bottom-up and top-down pathways. The general model is closed in the sense that it incorporates all brain structures together with sensory-motor behaviour and it views consciousness as the continuous testing of hypothetical expectations about the world.