The function of consciousness is to generate experience

Abstract

Why would we do anything at all if the doing was not doing something to us? In other words: What is consciousness good for? Here, reversing classical views, according to many of which subjective experience is a mere epiphenomenon that affords no functional advantage, we propose that the core function of consciousness is precisely to enable subject-level experience. “What it feels like” is endowed with intrinsic value, and it is precisely the value agents associate with their experiences that explains why we do certain things and avoid others. Thus, we argue that it is only in virtue of the fact that conscious agents experience things and care about those experiences that they are motivated to act in certain ways and that they prefer some states of affairs vs. others. In this sense, conscious experience functions as a mental currency of sorts, which not only endows mental states with intrinsic value, but also makes it possible for conscious agents to compare vastly different experiences in a common subject-centered space — a feature that readily explains the fact that consciousness is unified. If, as we argue, the function of consciousness is to endow agents with subjective experience, then the hard problem of consciousness seems to dissolve.

A voice without a mouth no more: The neurobiology of language and consciousness

“…For example, by one proposal, the adaptive function of consciousness is said to be homeostasis, whereby conscious affective states or feelings generated by the brainstem serve as a sort of alarm mechanism to guide behaviour to reduce predictive uncertainty, which typically registers as negative affect in novel contexts (Solms, 2021(Solms, , 2018Solms and Friston, 2018). That is, consciousness gives experience an affective 'flavour', a diverse range of HOLISTIC Model 39 qualia that guides behaviour and learning from experience (Cleeremans and Tallon-Baudry, 2021;Solms, 2018). This is consistent with empirical evidence suggesting that consciousness is not likely directly involved in information processing or controlling behaviour but that its function is associated with subsequent flexible responding (Earl, 2014;Halligan and Oakley, 2021;Oakley and Halligan, 2017).…”

A voice without a mouth no more: The neurobiology of language and consciousness

“…In a promising 'free energy' model, the adaptive function of consciousness is said to be homeostasis, whereby conscious affective states or feelings generated by the brainstem serve as a sort of alarm mechanism to guide behaviour to reduce predictive uncertainty, which typically registers as negative affect in novel contexts (Solms, 2021(Solms, , 2018Solms and Friston, 2018). That is, consciousness gives experience an affective 'flavour', a diverse range of qualia that guides behaviour and learning from experience (Cleeremans and Tallon-Baudry, 2021;Solms, 2018). This is consistent with empirical evidence suggesting that consciousness is not likely directly involved in information processing or controlling behaviour but that its function is associated with subsequent flexible responding (Earl, 2014;Halligan and Oakley, 2021;Oakley and Halligan, 2017).…”

Cognitive and personality predictors of school performance from preschool to secondary school: An overarching model.

“…Cognizance (see Figure 1A) is part of consciousness that allows for (a) awareness of mental content and processes (Dehaene, 2014; Demetriou, Makris, Kazi, Spanoudis, & Shayer, 2018; Seth & Bayne, 2022) and (b) ascription of intrinsic values to experience optimizing choices of actions (Cleeremans & Tallon-Baudry, 2021; Demetriou et al, 2022). Cognizance processes relations between perceptual and mental states, or between mental states, within or across individuals both online and retroactively; they gear on an automatic mechanism to allow for reenactment and reprocessing of past experiences for better current or future action or understanding (Demetriou, Makris, Kazi, Spanoudis, & Shayer, 2018).…”