About the compatibility between the perturbational complexity index and the global neuronal workspace theory of consciousness

The global neuronal workspace theory (GNWT) and the perturbational complexity index (PCI) are largely compatible frameworks for understanding conscious processing. GNWT holds that consciousness depends on long-range connections between cortical regions, enabling amplification, global propagation, and integration of brain signals. PCI, though developed within integrated information theory, aligns with this core idea. Some limited incompatibilities and apparent differences exist, but the paper concludes the two are fundamentally compatible, with certain points requiring further examination.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates the compatibility between the theoretical framework of the global neuronal workspace theory (GNWT) of conscious processing and the perturbational complexity index (PCI). Even if it has been introduced within the framework of a concurrent theory (i.e. Integrated Information Theory), PCI appears, in principle, compatible with the main tenet of GNWT, which is a conscious process that depends on a long-range connection between different cortical regions, more specifically on the amplification, global propagation, and integration of brain signals. Notwithstanding this basic compatibility, a number of limited compatibilities and apparent differences emerge. This paper starts from the description of brain complexity, a notion that is crucial for PCI, to then summary of the main features of PCI and the main tenets of GNWT. Against this background, the text explores the compatibility between PCI and GNWT. It concludes that GNWT and PCI are fundamentally compatible, even though there are some partial disagreements and some points to further examine.