Consciousness: a unique way of processing information

Giorgio Marchetti

doi:10.1007/s10339-018-0855-8

Abstract

In this article, I argue that consciousness is a unique way of processing information, in that: it produces information, rather than purely transmitting it; the information it produces is meaningful for us; the meaning it has is always individuated. This uniqueness allows us to process information on the basis of our personal needs and ever-changing interactions with the environment, and consequently to act autonomously. Three main basic cognitive processes contribute to realize this unique way of information processing: the self, attention and working memory. The self, which is primarily expressed via the central and peripheral nervous systems, maps our body, the environment, and our relations with the environment. It is the primary means by which the complexity inherent to our composite structure is reduced into the “single voice” of a unique individual. It provides a reference system that (albeit evolving) is sufficiently stable to define the variations that will be used as the raw material for the construction of conscious information. Attention allows for the selection of those variations in the state of the self that are most relevant in the given situation. Attention originates and is deployed from a single locus inside our body, which represents the center of the self, around which all our conscious experiences are organized. Whatever is focused by attention appears in our consciousness as possessing a spatial quality defined by this center and the direction toward which attention is focused. In addition, attention determines two other features of conscious experience: periodicity and phenomenal quality. Self and attention are necessary but not sufficient for conscious information to be produced. Complex forms of conscious experiences, such as the various modes of givenness of conscious experience and the stream of consciousness, need a working memory mechanism to assemble the basic pieces of information selected by attention.

Highlights

Scientific and philosophical studies of consciousness have repeatedly put forward the idea that consciousness is a form of information processing (Aleksander and Gamez 2011; Baars 1988; Earl 2014; Fingelkurts and Fingelkurts 2017; Jonkisz 2015, 2016; Tononi 2008, 2012; Tononi and Koch 2015)
I will argue that consciousness is a special way of processing information
It allows us to cope with the environment in a flexible and autonomous way according to our needs and self-generated goals and intentions, rather than to automatically and blindly respond to environmental stimuli

Summary

Introduction

Scientific and philosophical studies of consciousness have repeatedly put forward the idea that consciousness is a form of information processing (Aleksander and Gamez 2011; Baars 1988; Earl 2014; Fingelkurts and Fingelkurts 2017; Jonkisz 2015, 2016; Tononi 2008, 2012; Tononi and Koch 2015). Because the information it produces is “individuated” (Jonkisz 2015), in the sense that it has “that” meaning only for the person experiencing it, and not for other people: for example, I know what it means for me to experience “fear,” but another person cannot directly know what it means for me to experience “fear” (and vice versa) This view of consciousness allows me to put forward a biologically inspired proposal of what the basic cognitive processes underlying conscious experience are, namely the self, attention and working memory. It allows all of us to process information, but in an individual way, that is, according to the personal, individual (evolutionary, socially and subjectively defined) history of each of us In this sense, CI is always individual, or using Jonkisz’s expression (2015), individuated, that is, functionally relevant for, and relative to, only the person who experiences it. If we consider for example the ability we have to remember personal past events, various kinds of

Conclusion

Compliance with ethical standards