Determine the Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCCs)

Determine what constitutes the key neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) in the brain by identifying the specific neural processes, scales, and dynamics that reliably and specifically correspond to conscious experience across conditions and modalities.

Background

The chapter highlights that despite extensive literature on neural correlates of consciousness, there is little consensus on which neural processes or levels of activity truly constitute the key correlates. Many studies report correlations at macro-scales, but these often remain circumstantial and do not yield a definitive account of NCCs.

The author questions the prevailing assumption that spiking activity at the neuronal population level is the principal correlate, suggesting that consciousness may emerge from interactions across multiple scales rather than residing neatly within a single level. This motivates a broader, more multiscale search for NCCs.

References

One example of a clear and persistent open question in consciousness science revolves around the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs).

— The assumptions that restrain us from understanding consciousness  (2506.21485 - Aru, 26 Jun 2025) in Section "Will the real NCCs please stand up?"

The empirical conclusion is conditional on the declared ECoG representation: deep anesthesia increased short-lag mediation gain and potential capacity while reducing input--output alignment. Lower differentiated dimensionality and routed organization were more evident for larger candidate sets and varied across animals. Generalization to other anesthetics, conscious contents, species, and measurement modalities remains open.

— A Control-Theoretic Formulation of Global Workspace Theory  (2608.15926 - Kanai, 16 Aug 2026) in Section 8.5, “Candidate size, scale, and inferential limits”