Elife
October 13, 2025
Guylaine Hoffner, Pablo Castro, Lynn Uhrig et al.
The resting primate brain is traversed by spontaneous functional connectivity patterns that show striking differences between conscious and unconscious states. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive neuromodulatory technique, can improve signs of consciousness in disorders of consciousness (DOCs); however, can it influence both conscious and unconscious dynamic...
Frontiers in Psychology
2024
Ignacio Cea, Niccolò Negro, Camilo Miguel Signorelli
In this article we present two ontological problems for the Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness 4.0: what we call the (i) the intrinsicality 2.0 problem, and (ii) the engineering problem. These problems entail that truly existing, conscious entities can depend on, and be engineered from, entities that do not objectively exist, which is problematic: if something does not exist in...
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
October 16, 2023
Ignacio Cea, Niccolò Negro, Camilo Miguel Signorelli
Integrated Information Theory (IIT) is currently one of the most influential scientific theories of consciousness. Here, we focus specifically on a metaphysical aspect of the theory's most recent version (IIT 4.0), what we may call its idealistic ontology, and its tension with a kind of realism about the external world that IIT also endorses. IIT 4.0 openly rejects the mainstream view that...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
August 29, 2022
Camilo Miguel Signorelli, Ignacio Cea, Robert Prentner
8 citations
Models of consciousness need to explain both the objective correlates of conscious experience as well as its subjective structure. However, such an explanation would not need to entail a reduction exclusively in terms of physical or neural systems. A model that intends to avoid such reduction is integrated information theory (IIT). In this article, we discuss the explanatory rationale of IIT,...
Consciousness and Cognition
October 1, 2021
Camilo Miguel Signorelli, Quanlong Wang, Bob Coecke
4 citations
We cast aspects of consciousness in axiomatic mathematical terms, using the graphical calculus of general process theories (a.k.a symmetric monoidal categories and Frobenius algebras therein). This calculus exploits the ontological neutrality of process theories. A toy example using the axiomatic calculus is given to show the power of this approach, recovering other aspects of conscious...
Neurosci Conscious
August 27, 2021
Camilo Miguel Signorelli, Joanna Szczotka, Robert Prentner
93 citations
Models of consciousness aim to inspire new experimental protocols and aid interpretation of empirical evidence to reveal the structure of conscious experience. Nevertheless, no current model is univocally accepted on either theoretical or empirical grounds. Moreover, a straightforward comparison is difficult for conceptual reasons. In particular, we argue that different models explicitly or...
arXiv (Cornell University)
June 30, 2021
Camilo Miguel Signorelli, Quanlong Wang, Bob Coecke
We cast aspects of consciousness in axiomatic mathematical terms, using the\ngraphical calculus of general process theories (a.k.a symmetric monoidal\ncategories and Frobenius algebras therein). This calculus exploits the\nontological neutrality of process theories. A toy example using the axiomatic\ncalculus is given to show the power of this approach, recovering other aspects\nof conscious...
Entropy (Basel)
March 5, 2021
Camilo Miguel Signorelli, Quanlong Wang, Ilyas Khan
12 citations
Scientific studies of consciousness rely on objects whose existence is assumed to be independent of any consciousness. On the contrary, we assume consciousness to be fundamental, and that one of the main features of consciousness is characterized as being other-dependent. We set up a framework which naturally subsumes this feature by defining a compact closed category where morphisms represent...
bioRxiv Preprint Server
June 4, 2020
Camilo Miguel Signorelli, Lynn Uhrig, Morten L. Kringelbach et al.
preprint
Anesthesia induces a reconfiguration of the repertoire of functional brain states leading to a high function-structure similarity. However, it is unclear how these functional changes lead to loss of consciousness. Here we suggest that the mechanism of conscious access is related to a general dynamical rearrangement of the intrinsic hierarchical organization of the cortex. To measure cortical...
Ignacio Cea, Niccolò Negro, Pedro A. M. Mediano et al.
preprint
The Integrated Information Theory (IIT) 4.0 is an influential framework aiming to explain consciousness mathematically in terms of intrinsic existence, namely what exists for itself in a specific, maximally irreducible, structured form. IIT thus posits that the minimal substrates of consciousness are also the ultimate building blocks of what exists. These are called ‘monads’, and are defined as...
David Barberá-Tomás, Camilo Miguel Signorelli, Adrian A. Díaz-Faes
This article analyzes the ongoing controversy in consciousness science surrounding Integrated Information Theory (IIT) from a sociological perspective. Drawing on Frickel and Gross's (2005) framework of Scientific/Intellectual Movements (SIMs), the study examines four key social processes that enabled IIT's emergence and consolidation as a successful SIM: (i) the role of high-status actors...