Nature
June 1, 2025
Oscar Ferrante, Urszula Gorska-Klimowska, Simon Henin et al.
94 citations
Different theories explain how subjective experience arises from brain activity. An open science adversarial collaboration directly juxtaposed integrated information theory (IIT) and global neuronal workspace theory (GNWT). Human participants (n = 256) viewed suprathreshold stimuli for variable durations while neural activity was measured with fMRI, MEG, and intracranial EEG. Information about conscious content was found in visual, ventrotemporal, and inferior frontal cortex, with sustained responses in occipital and lateral temporal cortex reflecting stimulus duration, and content-specific synchronization between frontal and early visual areas. These results align with some predictions of IIT and GNWT but substantially challenge key tenets of both theories, including a lack of sustained posterior cortex synchronization for IIT and a lack of ignition at stimulus offset and limited prefrontal representation for GNWT.
Scientific data
May 23, 2025
Alia Seedat, Alex Lepauvre, Jay Jeschke et al.
5 citations
An intracranial EEG dataset was collected from 38 epilepsy patients across three research centers as part of an adversarial collaboration testing Global Neuronal Workspace Theory and Integrated Information Theory. Participants viewed visual stimuli—faces, objects, letters, and false fonts—in three orientations and for three durations, performing a Go/No-Go target detection task. The dataset includes demographics, clinical information, electrode reconstructions, behavioral performance, and eye-tracking data, all converted to BIDS format. It is intended for reuse in consciousness science and vision neuroscience to investigate stimulus processing, target detection, and task-relevance.
Scientific data
May 29, 2026
Ling Liu, Oscar Ferrante, Tara Ghafari et al.
A large-scale, multi-center dataset combines MEG, EEG, eye-tracking, and structural MRI recordings from 100 individuals (mean age 22.79, 54 female, all right-handed) across two research centers (UK and China). The data were collected through an adversarial collaboration between advocates of the Global Neuronal Workspace Theory and the Integrated Information Theory of consciousness. Participants performed a non-speeded Go/No-Go target detection task with visual stimuli from four categories (faces, objects, letters, false fonts) at different orientations and durations (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 s) under various task conditions. The dataset follows the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) and includes extensive metadata to enhance reusability.
Scientific data
May 7, 2026
Aya Khalaf, David Richter, Yamil Vidal et al.
An adversarial collaboration between proponents of the Global Neuronal Workspace theory and the Integrated Information Theory of consciousness produced a functional magnetic resonance imaging dataset from 118 participants. Participants viewed faces, objects, letters, and false fonts presented at three orientations and three durations (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 seconds) while identifying infrequent targets. Two categories were task-relevant and two were task-irrelevant in each block. The simple design makes the data broadly reusable for testing predictions from other theories of consciousness and for examining visual processing. Anonymized data, quality reports, demographics, behavioral performance, and eye-tracking data are publicly accessible.
bioRxiv Preprint Server
June 23, 2023
Oscar Ferrante, Urszula Gorska-Klimowska, Simon Henin et al.
preprint
An open science adversarial collaboration directly juxtaposed Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) by investigating neural correlates of visual experience. 256 human subjects viewed suprathreshold stimuli for variable durations while neural activity was measured with fMRI, MEG, and ECoG. Information about conscious content was found in visual, ventro-temporal, and inferior frontal cortex, with sustained responses in occipital and lateral temporal cortex reflecting stimulus duration, and content-specific synchronization between frontal and early visual areas.