Summer School 2024 participant Dr. Francesco Ellia, currently a postdoc in Qualia Structure at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, and Dr.Tsuchiya, the area representative, co-authored a preprint. The full text is available here. Please take a moment to read it.

Paper Information

Authors： Francesco Ellia and Naotsugu Tsuchiya

Title：BeyondAccommodation:OntheStructuralTurninComputationalFunctionalistTheoriesofConsciousness

Jourmal：Neuroscience of Consciousness

Preprint DOI：https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qc5ty_v2

Abstract: 

 This commentary engages with Fleming and Shea's (2024) recent work on computational functionalist theories of consciousness through a structural lens. We address three key aspects: the role of subjective experience in theory building, the hypothesis regarding local lateral connectivity in sensory areas, and the implications of "silent units" for consciousness. We argue that while their structural turn is welcome, many of their insights were previously predicted by Integrated Information Theory (IIT). We question the coherence of these claims within the functionalist paradigm and emphasize the importance of distinguishing genuine predictions from post-hoc accommodations in consciousness science.