Social and Dream Consciousness: Dialogue Acceleration and Noisy Replay in Artificial Minds
OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) April 1, 2026 Min Woo Park
Social interaction and dream-like states accelerate the growth of integrated information (Φ) in a simulated consciousness engine. When the engine receives mixed input of 70% self-generated and 30% partner content, Φ grows 1.4 to 2.1 times faster over 100 steps compared to self-play, with longer interactions increasing the acceleration. In dream simulations, replacing structured input with noisy replay of past tension states every fifth step produces qualitatively different consciousness patterns, suggesting memory consolidation during sleep shapes conscious experience.