Task 9

Question 1

Difference between NCCs and ToCs

Answer 1

NCCs answer the easy problem of consciousness
- they seek the brain states and processes that are most closely related to consciousness

ToCs answer the hard problem of consciousness
- explanatory insight into qualia, experience, and subjectivity

Question 2

Classes of Consciousness: Global States

Answer 2

Concern an organism’s overall subjective profile associated with changes in arousal and behavioral responsiveness

–> levels of consciousness
–> connection to Chalmers psychological consciousness/third-person data

Question 3

Classes of Consciousness: Local States

Answer 3

Conscious contents or states of having qualia

–> characterized by what it is like to be in them
–> connection to Chalmers phenomenal consciousness/first-person data

Question 4

Phenomenal Properties of Consciousness

Answer 4

The experiential character of consciousness

–> what it is like

Question 5

Functional Properties of Consciousness

Answer 5

The role(s) that mental states play in the cognitive economy of an organism by virtue of being conscious

Question 6

Higher-Order Theories (HOT)

Answer 6

Core Claim: A mental state is conscious in virtue of being the target of a certain kind of meta-representation

sensory organ –> sensory cortices –> higher-order processing

–> you need to have a conscious thought of being conscious in order to be conscious

Question 7

Higher-Order Theories (HOT): Classes

Answer 7

Focus on explaining why some contents are conscious whereas others are not
–> local state

Question 8

Higher-Order Theories (HOT): Properties

Answer 8

They are primarily accounts of what makes a mental state conscious
–> the phenomenal character of emotion and meta-cognitive states
–> the center of where we decide what something is like
–> ignores function(s) of consciousness

Question 9

Higher-Order Theories (HOT): Neural Basis

Answer 9

Prefrontal Cortex
–> anterior cortical regions

Question 10

Global Workspace Theories (GWT)

Answer 10

Sensory information gains access to conscious awareness when it is ‘broadcast’ within a widespread neuronal workspace that is implemented across higher-order cortical association areas

Access to the global workspace is achieved through ‘ignition’ (= rapid transition from a low to high activity state)
–> this process selects neuronal representations
–> this selected information enters the workspace and becomes conscious

Question 11

Global Workspace Theories (GWT): Properties

Answer 11

Focus on the question of what makes a representation conscious
–> functional properties

Accounts of ‘conscious access’ –> why certain representations are available to be flexibly used by a wide range of consuming systems

Core functional property: the ability of conscious states to guide behavior and cognition in flexible, content-dependent ways

Question 12

Global Workspace Theories (GWT): Neuronal Basis

Answer 12

Prefrontal cortex
–> fronto-parietal regions

Question 13

Integrated Information Theory (IIT)

Answer 13

• it starts with consciousness as a certainty and works backwards to a physical system
• if a conscious experience can be fully accounted for by a physical system, then the properties of a physical system must be constraint by the properties of experience

–> consciousness should be understood in terms of ‘cause-effect power’
–> any irreducible integrated information is conscious

Question 14

Integrated Information Theory (IIT): Classes

Answer 14

• global states are associated with the quantity or irreducible integrated information
• local states can be understood in terms of conceptual structures –> underpin specific kinds of phenomenal character

Question 15

Integrated Information Theory (IIT): Neural Basis

Answer 15

Posterior hot zone

–> posterior cortical areas

Question 16

Re-Entry Theories

Answer 16

Associate conscious perception with top-down (recurrent, re-entrant) signaling

–> consciousness emerges from top-down signaling that predicts the causes of sensory signals

Question 17

Predictive Processing Theories

Answer 17

More general accounts of brain (and body) function that can be used to formulate explanations and predictions regarding properties of consciousness

–> the brain implements a process of prediction error minimization
–> errors in the predictions of sensory signals are constantly minimized by bottom-up signaling

Question 18

Predictive Processing Theories: Classes

Answer 18

Address local conscious states in terms of the content of top-down perceptual predictions

–> two competing perceptual hypotheses —> one wins —> perceptual dominance (best guess) —> loser is the prediction error
–> predictive processing can explain the distinction between conscious and unconscious states in terms of whether a mental state is part of a current ‘best guess’ during perceptual inference

Question 19

Evaluation - Unity of Consciousness

Answer 19

= the fact that the experiences that a single agent has at a time seem always to occur as the components of a single complex experience

IIT: assumes that consciousness is always unified and consciousness is necessarily unified
GWT: association of consciousness with broadcast within a functionally integrated workspace
HOT and PPT: overlook this property

Question 20

Evaluation - Neural Data

Answer 20

Front-of-the-brain perspective: Prefrontal activity is crucially implicated in consciousness/conscious perception
–> advocates of HOTs and GWTs

Back-of-the-brain perspective: posterior cortical processes suffice the perceptual experience, and ‘front-of-the-brain’ processes are not necessary
–> advocates of IIT and re-entry theories

Question 21

Evaluation - Late vs. Early Onset (Event Recording)

Answer 21

There is a generalized early-onset response that robustly indexes perceptual consciousness
–> IIT and Re-Entry

Late-onset accounts are motivated by various perceptual phenomena that indicate a temporal delay in frontal brain processing
–> HOTs and GWTs

Question 22

Neural Darwinism

Answer 22

= the brain’s development and function are shaped by the principles of natural selection

Question 23

Neural Darwinism: Reentrant Signaling

Answer 23

Reentrant signaling, which allows the processing and integration of multiple types of information, is critical for creating a unified conscious experience

–> reentrant signaling is facilitated by the brain’s capacity for adaptive behavior, which is driven by the same principles of selection and variation that underlie Neural Darwinism

–> arises in the thalamocortical system

Question 24

Neural Darwinism and Consciousness

Answer 24

The brain’s capacity for flexible, adaptive behavior, which is driven by the principles of selection and variation that underlie Neural Darwinism, is critical for the integration and coordination of different brain regions, and is therefore important for creating a coherent conscious experience