Towards a statistical mechanics of consciousness: maximization of number of connections is associated with conscious awareness

TL;DR

This study suggests that conscious awareness correlates with the maximization of brain network configurations, indicating that higher entropy and information content underpin consciousness.

Contribution

It introduces a simple principle linking brain complexity and consciousness, proposing that maximum network configurations are associated with conscious states.

Findings

Wakeful states have the highest number of brain network configurations.

Consciousness correlates with increased entropy and information content.

Brain complexity may serve as an organizing principle for understanding consciousness.

Abstract

It has been said that complexity lies between order and disorder. In the case of brain activity, and physiology in general, complexity issues are being considered with increased emphasis. We sought to identify features of brain organization that are optimal for sensory processing, and that may guide the emergence of cognition and consciousness, by analysing neurophysiological recordings in conscious and unconscious states. We find a surprisingly simple result: normal wakeful states are characterised by the greatest number of possible configurations of interactions between brain networks, representing highest entropy values. Therefore, the information content is larger in the network associated to conscious states, suggesting that consciousness could be the result of an optimization of information processing. These findings encapsulate three main current theories of cognition, as discussed in the text, and more specifically the conceptualization of consciousness in terms of brain complexity. We hope our study represents the preliminary attempt at finding organising principles of brain function that will help to guide in a more formal sense inquiry into how consciousness arises from the organization of matter.