Tests for consciousness in humans and beyond

Tim Bayne; Anil K Seth; Marcello Massimini; Joshua Shepherd; Axel Cleeremans; Stephen M Fleming; Rafael Malach; Jason B Mattingley; David K Menon; Adrian M Owen; Megan A K Peters; Adeel Razi; Liad Mudrik

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2024.01.010

Tests for consciousness in humans and beyond

Trends Cogn Sci. 2024 Mar 13:S1364-6613(24)00010-X. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.01.010. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada. Electronic address: tim.bayne@gmail.com.
² Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science and School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
³ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Biomedical and Clinical Science, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Don Gnocchi.
⁴ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Belleterra, Spain; ICREA, Barcelona, Spain.
⁵ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; Center for Research in Cognition and Neuroscience, ULB Institute of Neuroscience, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
⁶ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK.
⁷ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; The Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
⁸ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; Queensland Brain Institute and School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
⁹ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁰ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
¹¹ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
¹² Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK.
¹³ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada; School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

PMID: 38485576
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.01.010

Abstract

Which systems/organisms are conscious? New tests for consciousness ('C-tests') are urgently needed. There is persisting uncertainty about when consciousness arises in human development, when it is lost due to neurological disorders and brain injury, and how it is distributed in nonhuman species. This need is amplified by recent and rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI), neural organoids, and xenobot technology. Although a number of C-tests have been proposed in recent years, most are of limited use, and currently we have no C-tests for many of the populations for which they are most critical. Here, we identify challenges facing any attempt to develop C-tests, propose a multidimensional classification of such tests, and identify strategies that might be used to validate them.

Keywords: animal consciousness; artificial intelligence; disorders of consciousness; fetal consciousness; infant consciousness; neural organoids; test for consciousness.

Publication types

Review