The why of the phenomenal aspect of consciousness: Its main functions and the mechanisms underpinning it
Frontiers in Psychology July 28, 2022 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.913309 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Consciousness is distinguished from other information processing by its phenomenal aspect (PAC), the 'what-it-is-like' to experience something. The PAC gives an agent a sense of self and informs how the self is affected by the agent's own operations. It originates from attention detecting the state of the self (S), which is centered on a hierarchy of values and expressed via the nervous system. This detection modulates the energy level of the organ of attention, generating the PAC, which has five dimensions: qualitative, quantitative, hedonic, temporal, and spatial.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The phenomenal aspect of consciousness arises from attention's detection of the state of the self, which modulates the energy level of the organ of attention. |
Abstract
What distinguishes conscious information processing from other kinds of information processing is its phenomenal aspect (PAC), the-what-it-is-like for an agent to experience something. The PAC supplies the agent with a sense of self, and informs the agent on how its self is affected by the agent’s own operations. The PAC originates from the activity that attention performs to detect the state of what I define “the self” (S). S is centered and develops on a hierarchy of innate and acquired values, and is primarily expressed via the central and peripheral nervous systems; it maps the agent’s body and cognitive capacities, and its interactions with the environment. The detection of the state of S by attention modulates the energy level of the organ of attention (OA), i.e., the neural substrate that underpins attention. This modulation generates the PAC. The PAC can be qualified according to five dimensions: qualitative, quantitative, hedonic, temporal and spatial. Each dimension can be traced back to a specific feature of the modulation of the energy level of the OA.