The Local Prospect Theory of Subjective Experience: A Soft Solution to the Hard Problem of Consciousness
Francis Heylighen, Shima Beigi
Journal of Consciousness Studies December 1, 2024 DOI: 10.53765/20512201.31.11.122 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Proposes that subjective experience functions as a mechanism guiding organisms toward beneficial outcomes, modeled as a local prospect implemented in the brain. |
Abstract
We propose a new theory to explain the nature and function of subjective experience, as a mechanism that guides the organism towards beneficial outcomes. In simple animals, that guidance takes the form of an affect producing a fitness-enhancing response. In human consciousness, there is not a single response, but a range of potential developments allowing a free choice. That range can be modelled as a local prospect: a field of possibilities centred on the present situation and coloured by valence. Building on neural models of global workspace and adaptive resonance, we suggest how such a prospect could be implemented in the brain: as a halo of activation diffusing from, and feeding back into, a core of circulating activation. Using the thought experiment of qualia inversion, we argue that local prospect theory solves the ‘hard problem of consciousness’. We show how our theory explains key characteristics of consciousness: subjectivity, feeling, free will, agency, transience, continuity, integration, selectivity, intentionality, and ‘what it is like’.
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Citations in the library
Cites 5
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- On a confusion about a function of consciousness Behavioral and Brain Sciences June 1, 1995
- Theories of consciousness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience July 1, 2022
- Complexity and the Evolution of Consciousness Biological Theory September 14, 2022
- A framework for consciousness Nature Neuroscience February 1, 2003