McFadden’s Conscious Electromagnetic Information Theory

Molecular geneticist Johnjoe McFadden proposes conscious electromagnetic information (CEMI) field theory as an explanation of consciousness. His central claim is that “conventional theories of consciousness (ToCs) that assume the substrate of consciousness is the brain's neuronal matter fail to account for fundamental features of consciousness, such as the binding problem,” and he posits that the substrate of consciousness is best accounted for by the brain's well-known electromagnetic (EM) field (McFadden, 2023).

Introduction and Context

Electromagnetic field theories of consciousness (EMF-ToCs) were first proposed in the early 2000s primarily to account for the experimental discovery that synchronous neuronal firing was a strong neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) (McFadden, 2002). While McFadden has EMF-ToCs gaining increasing support, he recognizes that “they remain controversial and are often ignored by neurobiologists and philosophers and passed over in most published reviews of consciousness.”

In his own review, McFadden examines EMF-ToCs against established criteria for distinguishing between competing ToCs and argues that “they [EMF-ToCs] outperform all conventional ToCs and provide novel insights into the nature of consciousness as well as a feasible route toward building artificial consciousnesses” (McFadden, 2023).

Working Memory and Global Workspace

McFadden references the neurophysiology of working memory in support of CEMI theory. He states that “although the exact neurons (the neural ensemble) maintaining a given memory in working memory varies from trial to trial, what is known as representational drift, stability of working memory emerges at the level of the brain's electric fields as detected by EEG.”

This means, he argues that “since working memory is considered to be, essentially, conscious memory,” consciousness “resides in the brain's electromagnetic fields rather than in its neurons, acting as the brain's global workspace.” He asserts that “the higher level of correlation between the contents of working memory and the brain's EM fields, rather than the state of the brain's matter-based neurons, is a considerable challenge to all neural-ToCs” (McFadden, 2023).

Distinctions and Philosophical Position

McFadden positions CEMI field theory (or EMF-ToCs) as providing “an objective criterion for distinguishing conscious from non-conscious EM fields. This arises from the requirement that, to be reportably conscious, a system must be able to generate (rather than merely transmit) thoughts as gestalt (integrated) information—our thoughts—that can be communicated to the outside world via a motor system” (McFadden, 2023).

In distinguishing CEMI field theory from Integrated Information Theory, McFadden argues that “nearly all examples of so-called ‘integrated information,’ including neuronal information processing and conventional computing, are only temporally integrated in the sense that outputs are correlated with multiple inputs: the information integration is implemented in time, rather than space, and thereby cannot correspond to physically integrated information.”

He stresses that “only energy fields are capable of integrating information in space,” and he defines CEMI field theory whereby “consciousness is physically integrated, and causally active, [with] information encoded in the brain's global electromagnetic (EM) field.” Moreover, he posits that “consciousness implements algorithms in space, rather than time, within the brain's EM field,” and he describes CEMI field theory as “a scientific dualism that is rooted in the difference between matter and energy, rather than matter and spirit” (McFadden, 2020).