Consciousness as the Temporal Propagation of Information

Abstract

Our ability to understand the mind and its relation to the body is highly dependent on the way we define consciousness and the lens through which we study it. We argue that looking at conscious experience from an information-theory perspective can help obtain a unified and parsimonious account of the mind. Today's dominant models consider consciousness to be a specialized function of the brain characterized by a discrete neural event. Against this background, we consider subjective experience through information theory, presenting consciousness as the propagation of information from the past to the future. We examine through this perspective major characteristics of consciousness. We demonstrate that without any additional assumptions, temporal continuity in perception can explain the emergence of volition, subjectivity, higher order thoughts, and body boundaries. Finally, we discuss the broader implications for the mind-body question and the appeal of embodied cognition.

Keywords: body boundaries; consciousness; information theory; neural correlates of consciousness (NCC); perception; self; volition.

FIGURE 1

Consciousness emerges in systems as a function of the degree in which futures states are determined by past states. Such a system can be said to be internally or endogenously driven. In flow chart 1, the system (S) best predicts its own future states. By looking at the system at time 0, we can predict what the system will be at time 1, or just the same what it was at time –1. This can allude to cases where the Default Mode Network (DMN) is active, and the mind is turned inward rather than being influenced by the senses. In flow-chart 2, the system is driven both by itself and by the environment (E). The flow of consciousness selectively integrates information from the environment. In flow-chart 3, the system is low in consciousness, and its behavior is entirely by the environment, or can be said to be externally driven. There is no continuous flow of internal information processing.

FIGURE 2

When coarse-grained representations consolidate, new levels of organization emerge. This results in a nested hierarchy within the conscious system, each level deriving from the ones underneath. The more regularities are identified in the environment, the higher the conscious process (3 > 2 > 1). The diagram shows three different levels, from fast variables with high fluctuations to emerging levels that are increasingly slower and generalized. The different wave patterns are superimposed, but here we have separated them for a more intuitive depiction of the emergent hierarchy. This may be misleading, as this increasing regularity is continuous, or graded, and not comprising of clear-cut levels.