The Great Consciousness Debate

During ‘The Great Consciousness Debate’ at the 25th meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) in Amsterdam, proponents of 4 theories of consciousness took center stage to discuss the ins-and-outs of their theories: 

- Steve Fleming defending Higher Order Thought theory (HOT)

Higher-order theories of consciousness postulate that consciousness consists in perceptions or thoughts about first-order mental states. In particular, phenomenal consciousness is thought to be higher-order representation of perceptual or quasi-perceptual contents, such as visual images. Higher-order theories are distinguished from other cognitive/representational accounts of consciousness which suggest that merely first-order mentality of certain sorts constitutes consciousness. 

- Stanislas Dehaene defending Global Neuronal Workspace theory (GNWT)

The Global Neuronal Workspace (GNW) theory addresses how the brain enables the coherent self-sustaining states characteristic of conscious experiences. Corticocortical long-range fibers make information available for multiple brain networks through horizontal projections. These neurons are considered the distributed source of a Global Neuronal Workspace. The GNW differs from the IIT because it does not situate integrated information as the cause of consciousness.

- Victor Lamme defending Recurrent Processing Theory (RPT)

In Recurrent Processing Theory (RPT), the unconscious functions of feature extraction and categorizations are mediated by the feedforward sweep, while conscious functions related to perceptual organization are mediated by recurrent (feedback, or re-entrant) cortico-cortical connections.

- Melanie Boly defending Integrated Information Theory (IIT)

Integrated information theory (IIT) attempts to provide a framework capable of explaining why some physical systems (such as human brains) are conscious, why they feel the particular way they do in particular states (e.g. why our visual field appears extended when we gaze out at the night sky), and what it would take for other physical systems to be conscious (Are other animals conscious? Might the whole Universe be conscious?).

https://www.youtube.com/embed/3nxmkv6YB_I



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