Schetselaar, Daan (2025) Consciousness as the dissipation of information. [Preprint]

Text Manuscript_Information_dissipation.pdf - Submitted Version Download (329kB)

Abstract

Despite its growing appeal for the study of consciousness, the notion of entropy has yet to lead to widely
supported new insights about the nature of phenomenal experience. Typically, entropy measures of brain activity
are found to correlate with cognitive functions that are assumed to index consciousness, but what mechanism
underlies this relation is not clear. This paper offers an explanation based on an operationalization of
consciousness as inactionable perception, which is derived from its conventional properties. To see how
consciousness, as such conceived, might indeed arise from brain activity, it is fitted in a unified framework of
perception and action defined as informational changes in a dynamical neural state space. In this model,
inactionable perception naturally arises as the prediction-driven increase of concept-related entropy. This entails
an increase of (Shannon) information while its efficacy to produce macrophysical effects decreases, which is
here referred to as information dissipation, analogously to energy dissipation in thermodynamic systems. It
results from inefficient sensorimotor coupling with the environment, which occurs when not all perceptual
information is used for action. The contents of consciousness then can be interpreted as potential behavior.
Starting from fundamental properties, this framework may provide a new and coherent conceptual basis for a
fuller understanding of what consciousness is and how it relates to the physical world. Although many of its
implications remain to be explored, it appears consistent with empirical findings, and prompts subtle
reinterpretations of some classical results in perception research.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Schetselaar, Daan daan.schetselaar@ou.nl 0009-0008-2052-3761
Keywords:	consciousness, entropy, information, perception, neuroscience
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Perception
Depositing User:	Mr. Daan Schetselaar
Date Deposited:	01 May 2026 01:55
Last Modified:	01 May 2026 01:55
Item ID:	29411
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Perception
Date:	16 August 2025
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29411

Available Versions of this Item

• Consciousness as the dissipation of information. (deposited 16 Aug 2025 18:58)
  • Consciousness as the dissipation of information. (deposited 01 May 2026 01:55) [Currently Displayed]

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item