title: Two theories of consciousness: Semantic pointer competition vs. information integration.
abstract: Consciousness results from three mechanisms: representation by firing patterns in neural populations, binding of representations into more complex representations called semantic pointers, and competition among semantic pointers to capture the most important aspects of an organism's current state. We contrast the semantic pointer competition (SPC) theory of consciousness with the hypothesis that consciousness is the capacity of a system to integrate information (IIT). We describe computer simulations to show that SPC surpasses IIT in providing better explanations of key aspects of consciousness: qualitative features, onset and cessation, shifts in experiences, differences in kinds across different organisms, unity and diversity, and storage and retrieval.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada. Electronic address: pthagard@uwaterloo.ca.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thagard
authors.affiliation: Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada. Electronic address: terry.stewart@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Terrence C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012660:Semantics
keywords: Binding; Competition; Consciousness; Information integration; Neural engineering framework; Neural mechanisms; Qualia; Representation; Semantic pointers