Four-Dimensional Graded Consciousness

Abstract

Both the multidimensional phenomenon and the polysemous notion of consciousness continue to prove resistant to consistent measurement and unambiguous definition. This is hardly surprising, given that there is no agreement even as regards the most fundamental issues they involve. One of the basic disagreements present in the continuing debate about consciousness pertains to its gradational nature. The general aim of this article is to show how consciousness might be graded and multidimensional at the same time. We therefore focus on the question of what it is, exactly, that is or could be graded in cases of consciousness, and how we can measure it. Ultimately, four different gradable aspects of consciousness will be described: quality, abstractness, complexity and usefulness, which belong to four different dimensions, these being understood, respectively, as phenomenal, semantic, physiological, and functional. Consequently, consciousness may be said to vary with respect to phenomenal quality, semantic abstraction, physiological complexity, and functional usefulness. It is hoped that such a four-dimensional approach will help to clarify and justify claims about the hierarchical nature of consciousness. The approach also proves explanatorily advantageous, as it enables us not only to draw attention to certain new and important differences in respect of subjective measures of awareness and to justify how a given creature may be ranked higher in one dimension of consciousness and lower in terms of another, but also allows for innovative explanations of a variety of well-known phenomena (amongst these, the interpretations of blindsight and locked-in syndrome will be briefly outlined here). Moreover, a 4D framework makes possible many predictions and hypotheses that may be experimentally tested (We point out a few such possibilities pertaining to interdimensional dependencies).

Informativeness of Auditory Stimuli Does Not Affect EEG Signal Diversity

“…Indeed, recent finding of higher signal diversity during psychedelic experiences might be a first step toward this direction by suggesting that diversity measures might be sensitive to changes in the content of consciousness ( Schartner et al, 2017a ; Wang et al, 2017 ). Assuming that consciousness is a multidimensional phenomenon ( Bayne et al, 2016 ; Fazekas and Overgaard, 2017 ; Jonkisz et al, 2017 ) one might then ask which of the proposed dimensions of experience are correlated with the signal diversity. In the present study we manipulated an information rate presented to the subjects and hypothesized that greater information rate will be related to richer and more differentiated phenomenology and, consequently, to greater EEG signal diversity.…”

Robot Consciousness

“…At the outset, I assume that our understanding and interpretation of the computation (rationalization) process [89], [90] of SAGI is an applied science question to be answered empirically. However, we are also interested in the theoretical implications of artificial intelligence, respecting any implied interpretations of their consciousness [91], [92]. Thus, ongoing theoretical and applied research on quantum computing will be decisive in clarifying if and how, either in the same entity or more universally, the subatomic, quantummechanical gravity field in such devices causally interacts with the atomic or molecular scales of particle events, and vice versa.…”

Bringing action into the picture. How action influences visual awareness

“…One of the contexts in which these factors have been studied pertains to the problem of the gradualness of visual awareness, which starts with the question of whether visual awareness is an all-or-none or gradual phenomenon; that is, whether there are intermediate states between complete unawareness and full awareness of perceptual content. This has been widely debated on the theoretical level (Bayne, Hohwy, & Owen, 2016; Jonkisz, Wierzchoń, & Binder, 2017), but the neural and cognitive mechanisms remain undetermined (Dehaene, Sergent, & Changeux, 2003; Fazekas & Overgaard, 2018; Kouider et al, 2010). The notion of the gradualness of visual awareness (i.e., degrees of conscious content, see Bayne, Howhy, & Owen, 2016) can be understood in at least two ways: First, it can pertain to the dynamics of the transition from unconscious to conscious processing, or accumulation of perceptual evidence in time (Anzulewicz et al, 2015, but also see Dehaene, 2008), as reflected in the question “is there a clear threshold that a representation needs to pass to enable conscious access?” Second, it could be related to the quality of conscious content, namely how many levels of stimulus clarity can be distinguished between complete unawareness and full awareness of a stimulus (Ramsoy & Overgaard, 2004; see the phenomenal dimension of graded consciousness – Jonkisz, Wierzchoń, & Binder, 2017).…”