The temporally-integrated causality landscape: A theoretical framework for consciousness and meaning.

A new theoretical framework called the Temporally-Integrated Causality Landscape (TICL) proposes that consciousness emerges from the functional integration of the thalamocortical system. Unlike other frameworks such as Integrated Information Theory (IIT), TICL emphasizes that conscious experiences are temporally continuous rather than discrete. It establishes a thalamocortical basis for the point-of-view, arguing that consciousness consists of contents arising from neuronal subsystems that derive meaning from their relationship to the larger integrated system. These meaningful contents emerge because subsystems exhibit a level of temporally-integrated causality distinguishable from the larger system.

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Abstract

Theoretical approaches to understanding consciousness have begun to converge upon areas of general agreement, yet substantive differences remain. Here, I introduce a new theoretical framework for the emergence of consciousness from the functional integration of the thalamocortical system: the Temporally-Integrated Causality Landscape (TICL). TICL presents a novel perspective which addresses important phenomenological characteristics of consciousness that other frameworks, such as IIT, do not. First, the TICL is based upon the observation that conscious experiences are temporally continuous, not discrete. Secondly, the TICL establishes a thalamocortical basis for the point-of-view. According to TICL, consciousness is composed of contents that arise from neuronal subsystems that have meaning from the point-of-view of the larger, integrated system in which they are nested. Meaningful contents emerge from the subsystems because they exhibit a level of temporally-integrated causality (TIC) that is distinguishable from that of the larger system.