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adversarial collaboration
Also known as: adversarial collaborations, adversarial collaboration protocol
Facts (25)
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Adversarial testing of global neuronal workspace and ... - Nature nature.com Apr 30, 2025 10 facts
claimThe initial conceptualization of the experiment and development of predictions for the adversarial collaboration were conducted by D.J.C., F.F., H.B., Stanislas Dehaene, Christof Koch, Giulio Tononi, L. Mudrik, M.P., and L. Melloni.
claimStanislas Dehaene served as the proponent for the Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) in the adversarial collaboration.
perspectiveThe adversarial collaboration aimed to reduce researcher confirmation bias and break theoretical echo chambers by requiring theories of consciousness to make explicit, committal empirical predictions that could be rigorously tested on common methodological grounds.
referenceCory Clark, Thomas Costello, Geoffrey Mitchell, and Philip E. Tetlock published 'Keep your enemies close: adversarial collaborations will improve behavioral sciences' in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition in 2022.
claimGiulio Tononi, Melanie Boly, and Christof Koch served as the proponents for Integrated Information Theory (IIT) in the adversarial collaboration.
referenceBarbara Mellers, Ralph Hertwig, and Daniel Kahneman published 'Do frequency representations eliminate conjunction effects? An exercise in adversarial collaboration' in Psychological Science in 2001.
claimThe experimental framework and overall consortium structure for the adversarial collaboration were designed by L. Mudrik, M.P., and L. Melloni.
referenceDaniel Kahneman discussed the concept of 'adversarial collaboration' in a 2022 EDGE lecture.
claimOngoing studies in animal models, conducted as part of a separate adversarial collaboration, are intended to complement the findings of the current study.
referenceThe article 'Make science more collegial: why the time for ‘adversarial collaboration’ has come' published in Nature in 2025 cites the Nature article 'Adversarial testing of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theories of consciousness'.
What a Contest of Consciousness Theories Really Proved quantamagazine.org Aug 24, 2023 8 facts
perspectiveLucia Melloni argues that the value of adversarial collaborations persists even if adversaries do not change their minds, because the way researchers react to challenges determines whether a theory progresses or degenerates and is eventually abandoned.
perspectiveMegan Peters, a computational neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, criticized media coverage that framed the adversarial collaboration as a 'two-horse race' between Global Neuronal Workspace Theory and Integrated Information Theory, arguing instead that science advances by learning from experimental hurdles rather than focusing on winners and losers.
perspectiveJakob Hohwy, a philosopher at Monash University, argues that adversarial collaborations are a valuable method for advancing the field of consciousness studies, which remains divided over fundamental definitions and whether consciousness is closer to thinking or feeling.
perspectiveAnil Seth, a neuroscientist at the University of Sussex, stated that the findings of the adversarial collaboration remain valuable because they push forward the development of Integrated Information Theory, Global Neuronal Workspace Theory, and other theories of consciousness by providing new constraints and explanatory targets.
claimAdversarial collaborations have been established to test Higher-Order Theories (HOTs) and first-order theories of consciousness.
claimAn adversarial collaboration developed experiments designed to test Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) against Integrated Information Theory (IIT).
claimDan Kahneman of Princeton University coined the term 'adversarial collaboration' in the 1980s to describe exercises where scientists with opposing views jointly develop experiments.
claimThe adversarial collaboration clarified details regarding the descriptions of the experiments developed to test Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) against Integrated Information Theory (IIT).
Landmark experiment sheds new light on the origins of consciousness alleninstitute.org 2 facts
quoteChristof Koch, a meritorious investigator at the Allen Institute, stated: “Adversarial collaboration fits within the Allen Institute’s mission of team science, open science and big science, in service of one of the biggest, and most long-standing, intellectual challenges of humanity: the Mind-Body Problem. Unravelling this mystery is the passion of my entire life.”
perspectiveAdversarial collaborations are a powerful social process that coordinates research and protocols across many independent laboratories and competitive individuals to reduce confirmation bias.
Experiment sheds new light on the origins of consciousness medicalxpress.com Apr 30, 2025 1 fact
quoteKoch stated: "Adversarial collaborations are a powerful social process, little used because of its challenging nature, within any field that has competing theories. The biomedical field could hugely profit by 'friendly' competition among theories—neurobiological or others. But it requires a great deal of cooperation and work."
Global Workspace vs. Integrated Information: Testing… templetonworldcharity.org 1 fact
perspectiveScientists may discover that the truth about consciousness lies between or beyond current theories by working together in adversarial collaborations, potentially leading to improved treatments for disorders of consciousness and a deeper understanding of brain function.
Rethinking Consciousness: When Science Puts Itself to the Test maxplanckneuroscience.org May 14, 2025 1 fact
procedureThe Cogitate Consortium utilized an adversarial collaboration approach, which involves theory leaders and researchers designing a study with preregistered hypotheses, analyses, and interpretations to provide an objective, falsifiable test of their predictions.
Protocol for testing global neuronal workspace and integrated ... journals.plos.org 1 fact
claimThe authors of the study 'Protocol for testing global neuronal workspace and integrated information theory' report an adversarial collaboration protocol in which unbiased experimentalists test predictions formed by proponents of Global Neuronal Workspace theory.
Fame in the Brain—Global Workspace Theories of Consciousness psychologytoday.com Oct 28, 2023 1 fact
referenceMelloni, Mudrik, Pitts, et al. published an adversarial collaboration protocol in PLoS One in 2023, titled 'An adversarial collaboration protocol for testing contrasting predictions of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theory,' which aims to test the competing predictions of these two theories.