The Self-Simulation Theory:A Computational Theory of Consciousness

A hypothesized theory, the Self Simulation theory, proposes a model for how conscious perception is computed. The model includes an interconnected network of auxiliary neural networks that receive sensory input, compute a representation, and relay it to the Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC). The NCC, a processing unit that can be neuroanatomically distributed but computationally connected, references a working memory to decode the content of memory, achieving conscious perception. The theory aims to address both the hard problem of consciousness (the experience of self-existence) and how conscious perception is computed, and it claims to account for various phenomenal experiences and past experimental paradigms.

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Abstract

The current theories of consciousness do not address the two major problems:What is the solution to the hard problem of consciousness or What is the experience of self-existence? and How is conscious perception computed? We address these questions using our hypothesized theory:The Self Simulation theory and propose a model of computation of consciousness.The components of the model are an interconnected network of auxiliary processors or Auxiliary Neural Networks(AN) which receives input from the external sensory modalities,computes a representation of the information and relays it to the NCC(Neural Correlates of Consciousness), the NCC – a processing unit which can be neuro anatomically distributed in location but computationally connected to each other and to the Auxiliary Networks,and a working memory which the NCC references for further computation of information.Computation of conscious perception is achieved via the decoding of the content of the memory by the NCC.The self simulation theory accounts not only for the various phenomenal experiences but also experimentation paradigms conducted in the past.