ICRDAM as a Dual-Aspect Bridge between GNWT and IIT: Effective Integrated Information, First-Person Access, and the Cogitate Challenge

A new theoretical framework called ICRDAM (Inseparable-Complementary-Reflective Dual-Aspect Monism) is proposed as a bridge between two leading consciousness theories—Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) and Integrated Information Theory (IIT). The 2023 Cogitate Consortium adversarial study found that both theories failed key predictions: IIT's predicted sustained posterior synchronization was absent, and GNWT's predicted ignition at stimulus offset was not robustly observed. ICRDAM argues that both failures stem from neither theory explaining how first-person conscious experience relates to third-person neural activity at an ontological level. ICRDAM proposes that conscious experience and neural activity are not separate substances but two inseparable, complementary, and reflective aspects of one dual-aspect state. The paper defines core relations, introduces effective integrated information as a bridge metric, reinterprets both theories within this ontology, and states falsifiable predictions.

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Abstract

Abstract This paper presents ICRDAM (Inseparable-Complementary-Reflective Dual-Aspect Monism) as a principled dual-aspect bridge between Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) and Integrated Information Theory (IIT). Both GNWT and IIT generate testable predictions about the neural correlates of consciousness, yet the landmark 2023 Cogitate Consortium adversarial study revealed significant empirical failures in both: sustained posterior synchronization was not found as IIT predicts, and ignition at stimulus offset was not robustly observed as GNWT requires. We argue that both failures share a common root: neither theory provides an account of how first-person conscious subjective experience (CSE) and third-person neural-physical activity/basis/correlates (NPA/NPB/NPC) are related at the ontological level. ICRDAM addresses this gap by proposing that CSE and NPA/NPB/NPC are not two substances or two independent variables, but two inseparable, complementary, and mutually reflective (ICR) aspects of one dual-aspect state (DAS). The paper (i) defines ICRDAM's three core relations (inseparability, complementarity, reflectivity); (ii) formally characterizes the DAS and DAS-DAS interaction; (iii) introduces effective integrated information (EII) as the bridge metric, distinguishing it from IIT's native Φ; (iv) reinterprets GNWT's global broadcast and IIT's integration-information structure within the dual-aspect ontology; (v) provides a disciplined analysis of the Cogitate findings under ICRDAM; (vi) states falsifiable predictions; and (vii) honestly delimits what ICRDAM does not yet prove. Cosmological and metaphysical extensions (HCC, death/NDE, Quantum Body comparisons) are deliberately separated into companion volumes. Keywords: Consciousness; Dual-Aspect Monism; ICRDAM; GNWT; IIT; Effective Integrated Information (EII); DAS-DAS Interaction; Hard Problem; Cogitate Consortium; First-Person Perspective; Inseparability; Complementarity