(ConsciousComputation) Computational components of conscious awareness

在任何一个时刻，我们都只意识到大脑处理的一小部分信息。我们可能会注意到一个视觉场景、一幅画或一页纸上的文字的细节，但却没有意识到我们的消化、呼吸或皮肤上衣服的感觉。即使在意识水平保持不变的情况下——当我们保持清醒和专注的时候——意识的内容也可能发生变化，并且以独立于心理功能其他方面的方式发生变化——例如，尽管继续驾驶、换挡和对交通变化做出反应，但在驾驶时的走神体验。近几十年来，新的工具和技术被开发出来，用来描述表现和意识之间的分离。然而，心理，计算和神经机制，使意识的心理内容仍然知之甚少。意识计算旨在逆向工程人类意识判断是如何形成的。我将测试一个新模型，该模型提出意识取决于对心理内容存在与否的整体抽象表征。为了验证这一理论，我将结合心理物理学、计算模型模拟和人类神经成像的最新进展（包括7特斯拉fMRI和光泵MEG），以前所未有的细节水平可视化支持意识判断的神经计算组件。我的提议解决了21世纪科学面临的一个根本性挑战：为什么（生物或人工）信息处理的某些方面是有意识的，而其他方面则不是。这个问题的答案将彻底改变我们对有意识和无意识心理状态之间差异的理解，并对心理学理论、心理健康治疗以及我们对个人层面的自主性和有意识思维的理解产生广泛的影响。意识计算的发现将开辟新的研究前沿，并创造一种意识意识的认知计算神经科学。

At any one moment in time we are aware of only a fraction of the information processed by our brains. We may be aware of the detail of a visual scene, a painting, or the words on a page, and yet remain unaware of our digestion, breathing or feel of the clothes on our skin. Even when conscious level is held constant - when we are awake, and attentive - the contents of awareness may vary, and do so in ways that are independent of other aspects of mental function - for instance, the experience of mind-wandering while driving, despite continuing to steer, change gear, and respond to changes in traffic. In recent decades, new tools and techniques have been developed to characterise dissociations between performance and awareness. However, the psychological, computational and neural mechanisms that enable awareness of mental contents remain poorly understood.ConsciousComputation aims to reverse engineer how human awareness judgments are formed. I will test a new model that proposes that awareness depends on global, abstract representations of the presence or absence of mental contents. To test this theory I will combine psychophysics, computational model simulations and recent advances in human neuroimaging (including 7 Tesla fMRI and optically-pumped MEG) to visualise the neurocomputational components supporting awareness judgments at an unprecedented level of detail.My proposal addresses a foundational challenge for 21st century science: why certain aspects of (biological or artificial) information processing are conscious, and others are not. An answer to this question will revolutionise how we understand the difference between aware and unaware mental states - with widespread ramifications for psychological theory, mental health treatments, and our understanding of personal-level autonomy and conscious thought. The findings of ConsciousComputation will open up new research frontiers and create a cognitive computational neuroscience of conscious awareness.