Attention-Gated Virtual Sensorium: A Bandwidth-Limited Architecture for Consciousness-like Organization in Artificial Embodiment
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) June 21, 2026 Trinity Labo
A theoretical architecture called the Attention-Gated Virtual Sensorium (AGVS) proposes that artificial consciousness-like states should be modeled not as complete access to world-state information but as finite-bandwidth, body-mediated, attention-gated integration of sensory and interoceptive information. The architecture includes dynamic conscious-like bandwidth, softmax temperature, nonlinear bodily need, metacognitive monitoring, selective episodic memory encoding, and mood-like modulation. These components enable functional signatures such as attention capture, fatigue-induced narrowing, pain-like priority shifts, and selective autobiographical memory. The paper does not claim to prove phenomenal consciousness but defines architectural conditions for consciousness-like organization, concluding that artificial agents should be bounded virtual bodies that experience partially, predict imperfectly, and remember selectively.