Cleeremans Axel
Cognitive Science Research Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles CP 191, Avenue F.-D. Roosevelt, 50 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Prog Brain Res. 2005;150:81-98. doi: 10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50007-4.
Over the past few years numerous proposals have appeared that attempt to characterize consciousness in terms of what could be called its computational correlates: Principles of information processing with which to characterize the differences between conscious and unconscious processing. Proposed computational correlates include architectural specialization (such as the involvement of specific regions of the brain in conscious processing), properties of representations (such as their stability in time or their strength), and properties of specific processes (such as resonance, synchrony, interactivity, or information integration). In exactly the same way as one can engage in a search for the neural correlates of consciousness, one can thus search for the computational correlates of consciousness. The most direct way of doing is to contrast models of conscious versus unconscious information processing. In this paper, I review these developments and illustrate how computational modeling of specific cognitive processes can be useful in exploring and in formulating putative computational principles through which to capture the differences between conscious and unconscious cognition. What can be gained from such approaches to the problem of consciousness is an understanding of the function it plays in information processing and of the mechanisms that subtend it. Here, I suggest that the central function of consciousness is to make it possible for cognitive agents to exert flexible, adaptive control over behavior. From this perspective, consciousness is best characterized as involving (1) a graded continuum defined over quality of representation, such that availability to consciousness and to cognitive control correlates with properties of representation, and (2) the implication of systems of meta-representations.
在过去几年里，出现了许多试图根据所谓的意识计算关联物来刻画意识的提议：即用于刻画有意识和无意识加工之间差异的信息处理原则。提议的计算关联物包括结构专门化（例如大脑特定区域参与有意识加工）、表征属性（例如它们在时间上的稳定性或强度）以及特定过程的属性（例如共振、同步性、交互性或信息整合）。就如同人们可以探寻意识的神经关联物一样，人们也能够探寻意识的计算关联物。最直接的做法是对比有意识与无意识信息处理的模型。在本文中，我回顾这些进展，并说明特定认知过程的计算建模如何有助于探索和制定假定的计算原则，借此捕捉有意识和无意识认知之间的差异。从这类处理意识问题的方法中能够获得的是对意识在信息处理中所起功能以及支撑该功能的机制的理解。在此，我认为意识的核心功能是使认知主体能够对行为施加灵活、适应性的控制。从这个角度来看，意识的最佳刻画方式是涉及（1）一个基于表征质量定义的渐变连续统，使得意识可得性和认知控制与表征属性相关，以及（2）元表征系统的牵涉。
