Does awareness depend on the pre-existence of a cognitive model?

What if we need to know something ahead of time (to have a memory of it), in order to be able to experience it?

Just a crazy thought that crossed my mind.

You know this thing that happens when you taste something other than the flavor you were expecting - how for the first few seconds your brain finds it repulsive until you recognize what it is? For example, you expected something sweet, but instead it tasted salty. Until you take enough time to recalibrate your mind, you do not have a correct perception of that flavor. But once you do, you may recognize that it's a flavor you actually like.

This is how strongly our expectations influence our perception.

What if we actually have to be exposed to a thing several times before we can ACTUALLY experience it? What if the experiences that flow easily are just those that are close enough to a collection of previous experiences?

When a baby develops, are they actually aware of what's around them before the brain pathways develop in response to the patterns in the environment?

But here is the most convincing evidence yet: a blind man can eventually learn to see using their tongue, with a device that translates visual patterns into electric signals that are pressed against the tongue. OVER TIME, that part of the brain learns to interpret the incoming signals are visual qualia, and then the person begins to see. But at first - the signals do not induce that same qualia. Now why is that? It's because a processes of inner calibration of the neural network has to occur before that specific consciousness is possible.

And lastly, is the thing that got me thinking of this... unfamiliar songs. Sometimes you need to hear a song several times before you begin to grasp it. And then, after your brain charts out the patterns, the song becomes pleasant, and easy to grasp.

But the really interesting part here, is that consciousness is conditional upon a specific arrangement of neurons. It requires exposure to patterns from the outside in order to develop. But not every stimuli can produce consciousness. There's a criteria. and if we find the criteria, we may find a direction in which to research the physical basis of consciousness. It suggests that even given the perfect "interface" - a brain ready to generate consciousness - consciousness will not emerge without the right stimuli.

Like that experiment I heard about cows that were raised in round rooms, and then could not see straight lines when they were later presented.

consciousness is not just a "thing that experiences what's out there". It need to calibrate to the environment in order to develop properly.