ICRDAM as a Dual-Aspect Bridge between GNWT and IIT: Effective Integrated Information, First-Person Access, and the Cogitate Challenge
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 14, 2026 RamLakhan Pandey Vimal
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.