Начинается поединок двух ведущих нейронаучных теорий сознания

Консорциум с участием ведущих исследователей сознания, нейроученых и философов -- Чалмерса, Деана, Тонони, Коха и других -- опубликовал протокол сравнительного экспериментального исследования, которое должно проверить предсказания двух наиболее влиятельных нейронаучных теорий сознания: теории глобального нейронального рабочего пространства и теории интегрированной информации.

Together, we devised and preregistered two experiments that test contrasting predictions of these theories concerning the location and timing of correlates of visual consciousness, which have been endorsed by the theories’ proponents. Predicted outcomes should either support, refute, or challenge these theories. Six theory-impartial laboratories will follow the study protocol specified here, using three complementary methods: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Magneto-Electroencephalography (M-EEG), and intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). The study protocol will include built-in replications, both between labs and within datasets. Through this ambitious undertaking, we hope to provide decisive evidence in favor or against the two theories and clarify the footprints of conscious visual perception in the human brain, while also providing an innovative model of large-scale, collaborative, and open science practice.

Lucia Melloni, Liad Mudrik, Michael Pitts, Katarina Bendtz, Oscar Ferrante, Urszula Gorska, Rony Hirschhorn, Aya Khalaf, Csaba Kozma, Alex Lepauvre, Ling Liu, David Mazumder, David Richter, Hao Zhou, Hal Blumenfeld, Melanie Boly, David J. Chalmers, Sasha Devore, Francis Fallon, Floris P. de Lange, Ole Jensen, Gabriel Kreiman, Huan Luo, Theofanis I. Panagiotaropoulos, Stanislas Dehaene, Christof Koch, Giulio Tononi. An adversarial collaboration protocol for testing contrasting predictions of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theory. PLoS ONE 18(2): e0268577, February 10, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268577