Toward a computational theory of conscious processing
Open accessAbstract
The study of the mechanisms of conscious processing has become a productive area of cognitive neuroscience. Here we review some of the recent behavioral and neuroscience data, with the specific goal of constraining present and future theories of the computations underlying conscious processing. Experimental findings imply that most of the brain's computations can be performed in a non-conscious mode, but that conscious perception is characterized by an amplification, global propagation and integration of brain signals. A comparison of these data with major theoretical proposals suggests that firstly, conscious access must be carefully distinguished from selective attention; secondly, conscious perception may be likened to a non-linear decision that 'ignites' a network of distributed areas; thirdly, information which is selected for conscious perception gains access to additional computations, including temporary maintenance, global sharing, and flexible routing; and finally, measures of the complexity, long-distance correlation and integration of brain signals provide reliable indices of conscious processing, clinically relevant to patients recovering from coma.
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GNW posits that conscious experience is the global broadcasting and amplification of information across an interconnected network of prefrontal-parietal areas and many distant high-level sensory cortical areas.
“Global neuronal workspace theory (GNW) posits that what we subjectively experience as a conscious state, at any given moment, is the global broadcasting and amplification of information [17] across an interconnected network of prefrontal-parietal areas and many distant high-level sensory cortical areas [18–20].”
From An adversarial collaboration protocol for testing contrasting predictions of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theory (2023) · cites this paper as [19]
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Self-citation
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A beautiful loop: An active inference theory of consciousness.
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“…dreaming is associated with re-activation of prefrontal brain regions (Baird et al., 2018; 2019; Voss et al., 2009; Dresler et al., 2012), which possess the widespread connectivity that may be important for reflective broadcasting (Dehaene et al., 2014; Miller and Cohen, 2001; Baird et al., 2018).”
A measure centrality index for systematic empirical comparison of consciousness theories
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An embarrassment of richnesses: the PFC isn’t the content NCC
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Neuroscience undermines the higher-order theorists' preferred solution to the targetless HOT problem
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Why large language models cannot possess consciousness: an integrated information theory perspective
Shin, D. A., Cho, P. G., Ji, G. Y., Park, S. H., Kim, S. H., Choo, Y. J., & Chang, M. C. (2025) · Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science · doi:10.12701/jyms.2025.42.79
“From a neuroscience perspective, consciousness can be defined as the capacity for subjective experience to emerge from integrated and recurrent information processing across distributed neural networks [1,2].”
- Authors
- Dehaene, S., Charles, L., King, J.-R., & Marti, S.
- Affiliations
- Inserm (FR)
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-04
- Volume
- 25
- Pages
- 76-84
- ISSN
- 0959-4388 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5635963
- OpenAlex
- W1969374641
- Cited by
- 404
- References
- 116
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 65 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 7
- FWCI
- 5.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- conscious processing, conscious perception, unconscious processes, signal integration, conscious access, selective attention, distributed neural networks, long-range correlations, coma recovery
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Consciousness, Humans, Models, Theoretical, Nerve Net
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