A Modular Theory of Subjective Consciousness for Natural and Artificial Minds

TL;DR

Modular Consciousness Theory (MCT) reframes consciousness as a sequence of discrete Integrated Informational States (IISs) each tagged with an information-density vector that encodes subjective intensity and modulates memory, behavior, and decision-making. It specifies a full computational pipeline with separate sensorimotor, subconscious, and conscious modules that produce IISs through an integration process, allowing AI and biological systems to implement subjectivity as a measurable signal rather than a metaphysical essence. By integrating insights from Global Workspace Theory, Integrated Information Theory, Higher-Order/recurrence models, and predictive coding within a modular architecture, MCT generates falsifiable predictions about memory consolidation, decision bias, and behavioral readiness, and provides a naturalistic blueprint for synthetic consciousness. The theory also offers a clinical lens on mental disorders as modular dysfunctions in IIS generation and integration, with implications for diagnostics and therapeutic strategies in conditions such as psychopathy, dissociation, and bipolar disorder. Overall, MCT advances a tractable, testable, and implementation-ready framework linking subjective experience to concrete information-processing mechanisms applicable to both brains and machines.

Abstract

Understanding how subjective experience arises from information processing remains a central challenge in neuroscience, cognitive science, and AI research. The Modular Consciousness Theory (MCT) proposes a biologically grounded and computationally explicit framework in which consciousness is a discrete sequence of Integrated Informational States (IISs). Each IIS is a packet of integrated information tagged with a multidimensional density vector that quantifies informational richness. Its magnitude correlates with subjective intensity, shaping memory, behavior, and continuity of experience. Inputs from body and environment are adaptively filtered, processed by modules (abstraction, narration, evaluation, self-evaluation), and integrated into an IIS. The resulting packet, tagged with its density vector, is transmitted to behavioral readiness, memory, and decision-making modules, closing the loop. This explains why strongly tagged states exert greater influence on long-term memory and action. Unlike Global Workspace Theory, Integrated Information Theory, or Higher-Order Thought, MCT specifies a full computational pipeline producing discrete informational units with quantifiable internal structure. Subjectivity is reframed as a correlate of the density-tagging signal with functional consequences. MCT generates testable predictions, such as stress enhancing memory encoding, and provides a naturalistic blueprint for both biological and artificial architectures. Consciousness, in this view, is not an irreducible essence but an evolvable, quantifiable, and constructible feature of complex information processing.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Architecture of advanced consciousness in MCT. The full architecture includes evaluation and self-evaluation modules, together with an existential abstraction submodule. Each IIS is generated by the integration module and assigned a multidimensional informational-density vector. These enriched states are propagated to memory, behavioral readiness, and decision modules. This configuration supports introspection, moral reasoning, social cognition, and the construction of a temporally extended self-model. Consciousness is thereby not restricted to the present but spans complex autobiographical representations anchored in narrative and integrative coherence.
• Figure 2: Architecture of unconscious agents in MCT. In unconscious architectures, information flows from sensorimotor modules through behavioral readiness and decision systems, with memory restricted to procedural and associative learning. No IIS is generated and thus no subjective signal arises. Behavior remains reactive and stimulus-driven, without abstraction, narrative construction, or integrated self-models.
• Figure 3: Architecture of minimal consciousness in MCT. Subjective consciousness emerges with the addition of abstraction, narrative construction, and a centralized integration module. The resulting IISs are propagated to memory, behavioral readiness, and decision systems, enabling flexible, context-sensitive behavior. This configuration, however, lacks evaluation and self-evaluation modules and thus cannot support moral reasoning, higher-order self-assessment, or socially contextualized cognition.