The strength of weak integrated information theory

Pedro A M Mediano; Fernando E Rosas; Daniel Bor; Anil K Seth; Adam B Barrett

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2022.04.008

The strength of weak integrated information theory

Trends Cogn Sci. 2022 Aug;26(8):646-655. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.04.008. Epub 2022 Jun 1.

Authors

Pedro A M Mediano¹, Fernando E Rosas², Daniel Bor³, Anil K Seth⁴, Adam B Barrett⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Department of Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. Electronic address: pam83@cam.ac.uk.
² Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London, London, UK; Data Science Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK; Centre for Complexity Science, Imperial College London, London, UK.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Department of Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
⁴ Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; CIFAR Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, Toronto, Canada.
⁵ Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; The Data Intensive Science Centre, Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. Electronic address: abb22@sussex.ac.uk.

PMID: 35659757
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.04.008

Abstract

The integrated information theory of consciousness (IIT) is divisive: while some believe it provides an unprecedentedly powerful approach to address the 'hard problem', others dismiss it on grounds that it is untestable. We argue that the appeal and applicability of IIT can be greatly widened if we distinguish two flavours of the theory: strong IIT, which identifies consciousness with specific properties associated with maxima of integrated information; and weak IIT, which tests pragmatic hypotheses relating aspects of consciousness to broader measures of information dynamics. We review challenges for strong IIT, explain how existing empirical findings are well explained by weak IIT without needing to commit to the entirety of strong IIT, and discuss the outlook for both flavours of IIT.

Keywords: complexity; consciousness; information decomposition; integrated information.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Consciousness
Humans
Information Theory*
Models, Neurological*

Grants and funding

210920/Z/18/Z/WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom