Quantifying the Dynamics of Consciousness using Hierarchical Integration, Organised Complexity and Metastability

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel, theory-neutral framework for quantifying consciousness through neural dynamics, using hierarchical integration, complexity, and metastability, validated on synthetic and real EEG data across various brain states.

Contribution

The paper develops a new quantitative framework for consciousness that combines multiple neural properties and validates it with synthetic and real EEG data, capturing state-dependent neural organization.

Findings

The composite index reliably distinguishes high-consciousness from impaired states.

Synthetic EEG recapitulates empirical index ordering across sleep and wake states.

The framework offers a biologically meaningful measure of neural organization related to consciousness.

Abstract

Quantifying the neural signatures of consciousness remains a major challenge in neuroscience and AI. Although many theories link consciousness to rich, multiscale, and flexible neural organisation, robust quantitative measures are still lacking. This paper presents a theory-neutral framework that characterises consciousness-related dynamics through three properties: hierarchical integration (H), cross-frequency complexity (D), and metastability (M). Candidate subsystems are identified using predictive information, temporal complexity, and state-space exploration to distinguish structured from unstructured activity. We provide mathematical definitions for all components and implement the framework in a generative model of synthetic EEG, simulating nine brain states ranging from psychedelic and wakeful to dreaming, non-REM sleep, minimally conscious, anaesthetised, and seizure-like regimes. Across single trials and Monte Carlo ensembles, the composite index reliably separates high-consciousness from impaired or non-conscious states. We further validate the framework using real EEG from the Sleep-EDF dataset alongside matched synthetic EEG designed to reproduce state-dependent oscillatory structure. Across Wake, N2, and REM sleep, synthetic data recapitulate the empirical ordering and magnitude of the index, indicating that the index captures stable and biologically meaningful distinctions. This approach provides a principled and empirically grounded tool for quantifying consciousness-related neural organisation with potential applications to both biological and artificial systems.