A new study published in Nature confirms what many have long suspected: science still doesn’t know what consciousness truly is. Despite dozens of competing theories trying to explain its nature, not a single one has passed rigorous experimental testing. In 2022, British neuroscientists cataloged 22 brain-based theories of consciousness. By 2024, an American researcher had counted over 200. Against this backdrop, the Cogitate Consortium conducted a comparative analysis of the two most prominent theories: Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Workspace Theory (GWT).
Both link consciousness to neural activity, but offer different views on where and how it emerges. Integrated Information Theory suggests that consciousness arises from stable synchronization of signals in the brain’s posterior cortex during conscious perception. Global Workspace Theory, in contrast, associates consciousness with neural activity in the prefrontal cortex and claims that the contents of consciousness can be decoded from this activity.
To test the theories, predictions based on each were shared with independent research teams. But the results turned out to be mixed: synchronization in the posterior cortex was not confirmed, and the decoding of conscious content from the prefrontal cortex was limited. Moreover, neural activation at the precise moment a stimulus appeared — a key prediction of GWT — could not be reliably detected.
While the study didn’t validate either hypothesis, it marked an important milestone: for the first time, large-scale theory testing was conducted with strict scientific objectivity. This reflects progress in the approach to studying consciousness — even without definitive answers, science is becoming better at formulating and testing hypotheses.
As philosopher Ralf Weir notes, phenomenal consciousness may be something that can’t be fully described in terms of physical processes alone. Modern science can correlate certain conscious states with brain activity, but it still can’t explain why those states come with subjective experience.
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