Towards new concepts for a biological neuroscience of consciousness

A theoretical paper introduces new concepts—closure, compositionality, biobranes, and autobranes—to model consciousness in a non-reductionist way. It argues that consciousness co-arises with the non-trivial composition of biological closure, where conscious processes generate closed activity at various levels and are supported by biobranes and autobranes. This approach aims to integrate biological and phenomenological perspectives, offering a new framework for a science of consciousness. Future work will develop experimental definitions and computational simulations to characterize these dynamical biobranes.

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Abstract

In the search for a sound model of consciousness, we aim at introducing new concepts: closure, compositionality, biobranes and autobranes. This is important to overcome reductionism and to bring life back into the neuroscience of consciousness. Using these definitions, we conjecture that consciousness co-arises with the non-trivial composition of biological closure in the form of biobranes and autobranes: conscious processes generate closed activity at various levels and are, in turn, themselves, supported by biobranes and autobranes. This approach leads to a non-reductionist biological and simultaneously phenomenological theory of conscious experience, giving new perspectives for a science of consciousness. Future works will implement experimental definitions and computational simulations to characterize these dynamical biobranes interacting.