The Information Integration Theory of Consciousness

Abstract

Background: Consciousness poses two main problems. The first is understanding the conditions that determine to what extent a system has conscious experience. For instance, why is our consciousness generated by certain parts of our brain, such as the thalamocortical system, and not by other parts, such as the cerebellum? And why are we conscious during wakefulness and much less so during dreamless sleep? The second problem is understanding the conditions that determine what kind of consciousness a system has. For example, why do specific parts of the brain contribute specific qualities to our conscious experience, such as vision and audition?

Causal networks in simulated neural systems

“…Several measures of relevant complexity have now been proposed, including 'neural complexity' (C N ) (Tononi et al 1994), 'information integration' (U) (Tononi 2004), and, most recently, causal density (c d ) ; Seth et al (c) show the same data on a magnified scale. Reprinted with permission from Seth and Edelman (2007) 2006).…”

“…A promising approach in this regard has been to notice that all conscious scenes are both differentiated (each is composed of many parts and is therefore unique) and integrated (each is experienced as a unified whole) (Edelman 2003;Tononi and Edelman 1998). Quantitative multivariate measures that track these properties and that are applicable to neural dynamics are therefore very useful for neural theories of consciousness, and indeed several such measures have now been proposed (Edelman 2003;Tononi and Edelman 1998;Tononi 2004). Here, we adopt a causal network perspective on the neural dynamics underlying consciousness and we analyze the proposal that a particular measure applicable to causal networks, causal density, provides a useful means of quantifying the complexity of the neural dynamics relevant to consciousness (Seth et al 2006).…”

Calculo del nivel de conciencia utilizando computación paralela

“…En Wisconsin el Doctor Giulio Tononi propuso una nueva teoría que está a punto de solucionar el problema de la medición de la conciencia [2]. Utilizando postulados de IIT (Integrated Information theory) [4] que definen una serie de propiedades que se necesitan satisfacer, para dar lugar a la experiencia consciente.…”

“…Esta posibilidad dificulta a los especialistas de la salud y a las familias, tomar alguna decisión relacionada al tratamiento o desconexión de un paciente. Por otro lado, industrias como la farmacéutica también puede beneficiarse del desarrollo de una herramienta que mida el nivel de conciencia, en la medida que es posible evaluar pacientes que a pesar de estar anestesiados aún conservan la conciencia y permanecen incomunicados.En Wisconsin el Doctor Giulio Tononi propuso una nueva teoría que está a punto de solucionar el problema de la medición de la conciencia [2]. Utilizando postulados de IIT (Integrated Information theory) [4] que definen una serie de propiedades que se necesitan satisfacer, para dar lugar a la experiencia consciente.…”

“…Este trabajo en progreso, muestra una aplicación innovadora de computación paralela, para optimizar de la implementación del algoritmo de cálculo de conciencia propuesto por Tononi [2]. Describe el algoritmo del cálculo y propone una metodología innovadora para involucrar computación paralela en su implementación.…”