Cognitive control and consciousness in open biological systems.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Systems Biology

Background:

• Biological systems are thermodynamically open, exchanging matter and energy with their environment.
• These systems actively seek information to adapt to environmental changes.
• Cognition and consciousness are integral to biological control and information processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a unified framework viewing cognition and consciousness as integral control mechanisms.
• To categorize cognitive capacities within centralized nervous systems using Markov decision processes.
• To explain the emergence of conscious thought via the phonological loop.

Main Methods:

• Modeling cognitive control capacities as Markov decision processes.
• Analyzing decision-making with partially observable sensory information (exteroceptive and interoceptive).
• Conceptualizing the phonological loop as a feedback control mechanism for speech production.

Main Results:

• Cognitive functions like decision-making, learning, memory, and communication are framed as distinct Markov decision processes.
• Conscious thought is proposed to emerge from the motor-to-sensory cortex feedback loop (phonological loop).
• This loop continuously updates working memory, enabling a sense of self, agency, and temporal flow.

Conclusions:

• Cognition and consciousness are not isolated but are integral control systems for processing semantic information.
• The phonological loop provides an advanced control layer, crucial for human self-awareness and temporal perception.
• These information-processing capacities represent distinct levels of 'information fitness' in evolutionary terms.