A framework for consciousness

A framework for consciousness Crick Koch

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A framework for consciousness 2003 Nature Neuroscience 10.1038/nn0203-119 crick2003-a-framework-for-consciousness crick2003-a-framework-for-consciousness.txt, the project's staged copy dc4ff91fc27fb41ed9352242fd5df0759813a73c open-access theoretical-neuroscience

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0 spans located by searching the stored text for the quote's exact words, allowing any whitespace between them mechanism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. neural correlates of visual consciousness Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. theory theory Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Attention makes an object conscious by biasing the competition between rival neuronal coalitions while those coalitions are still forming, rather than by acting on an already-formed percept. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Positive feedback loops iteratively re-excite a neuron, driving its activity past the consciousness threshold and then holding it there for the duration of a snapshot. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Feature detectors are built by neurons detecting recurring correlations in their inputs and modifying their synapses so those inputs drive them more easily — the brain is thereby detecting apparent causation. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Because motion is coded as a constant firing rate held fixed within one snapshot, a change of motion has no explicit representation, which is why acceleration is hard to perceive. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The framework is deliberately restricted to primate vision and sets aside emotion and self-consciousness. what this limits: the scope of the framework: WE HAVE CONCENTRATED ON THE VISUAL SYSTEM OF PRIMATES, LEAVING ON ONE SIDE SOME OF THE MORE DIFFICULT ASPECTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS, SUCH AS EMOTION AND SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The authors acknowledge that relevant parts of the brain are omitted from the framework. what this limits: the anatomical completeness of the framework: the authors ACKNOWLEDGE SOME RELEVANT ASPECTS OF THE BRAIN THAT HAVE BEEN LEFT OUT Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The individual ideas are not new; only their combination is claimed as original. what this limits: the originality claim, precisely: MOST OF THE IDEAS WE FAVOR HAVE BEEN SUGGESTED BEFORE, BUT THEIR COMBINATION IS ORIGINAL - the claim is on the combination, not the components Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The hard problem is declared unapproachable head-on and replaced with a different, tractable target. what this limits: this framework as an account of qualia: the authors state it is fruitless to approach that problem head-on and substitute the search for neural correlates Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Biological frameworks are said to differ in kind from those in physics, because biology has few rules without exceptions. what this limits: this framework as a law-like account: the authors state biological systems do not have rigid laws and that evolution produces mechanisms with exceptions Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The structure of a democratic election — primaries, a winning party that stays in power and shapes later events, and opinion polls — is imported as an explicit working model of how transient neuronal coalitions compete and how one comes to dominate and constitute the conscious percept. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. framework framework Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. qualia qualia Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. NCC NCC Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. framework - explicitly NOT a hypothesis or set of hypotheses, but a suggested point of view for attacking a problem, which may suggest testable hypotheses Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. neural correlate of consciousness - the minimal set of neuronal events giving rise to one specific aspect of a conscious percept Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. private - a stipulated sense: accessible exclusively to the owner of the brain, so the percept itself cannot be conveyed even though information about it can Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. builds-on → Hebb's cell-assembly idea Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. extends → Crick & Koch's own 1990 paper, 1995 proposal and 1998 review Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. contradicts → the authors' own earlier claim (1990 paper, ref. 11) that synchronized 40 Hz firing is sufficient for the NCC Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. EVIDENCE CORRECTED (RE-GROUNDED) · qualia —contrasted-with→ NCC qualia NCC EVIDENCE CORRECTED: RE-GROUNDED. The old span was about the difficulty of explaining redness. This sentence names both and states the programme's own substitution - '…correlate(s) of consciousness (NCC), in the hope that when…'. — strength of the relation: 1 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its span and kept, but the span sets the search for NCC against explaining qualia directly; contrasted-with is loose. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The framework's central claim is that the coalition of mutually supporting neurons that wins the ongoing competition at a given moment is what the subject is conscious of. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The authors retract their earlier position that synchronized firing, in particular 40 Hz oscillations, is sufficient for the NCC. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. An explicit representation of a feature is necessary for that feature to become conscious but is not on its own sufficient to produce the NCC. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Consciousness of a visual scene is claimed to begin at the top of the hierarchy with the gist of the scene, with the details filled in afterwards as activity descends to lower levels. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The binding of an object's features is simply their membership in one coalition. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The penumbra — the neurons influenced by, but not part of, the NCC — is proposed as the substrate of unconscious priming. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. No recorded case of purely parietal damage led to a complete loss of conscious vision. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sensory cortex's job is described as building and using highly specific but multidimensional feature detectors, for properties such as orientation, motion and faces. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. NCC NCC Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. framework framework Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. private private Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. projective field projective field Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. explicit representation explicit representation Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. essential node essential node Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. zombie modes zombie modes Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. net-wave net-wave Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. coalitions of neurons coalitions of neurons Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. snapshots snapshots Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. binding binding Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. penumbra penumbra Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 40 Hz — the synchronized-firing frequency the authors previously proposed, and now reject, as sufficient for the NCC Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. ten — number of headings under which the framework's ingredients are set out Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution.

The full text of this article is not redistributable, so it is not included here. The evidence sentences are withheld with it; the tag layer and its grounding status remain. The article itself is at https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0203-119.