What Current Theories of Consciousness are Missing

Abstract

Notwithstanding the power of the cell assembly concept, which holds that specific patterns of neuronal activity constitute the substrate of perceptual awareness that rises into consciousness, a explanatory gap remains between the phenomenological experience of consciousness and the brain processes from which that experience arises. A number of compelling and insightful theories have been offered that attempt to bridge that gap, but most of them fall short by failing to [a] specify which of many options other than hard-wired cell assemblies carry the information that becomes conscious, or [b] identify the brain mechanism for monitoring the functional events that become conscious. This Viewpoint article points to a number of possibilities that could be considered for both the substrate and monitor that give rise to consciousness.