concept

Higher-order theories of consciousness

Also known as: HOT, Higher Order Theory of Consciousness, higher-order thought theory of consciousness, HOTs

Facts (18)

Sources

Self-Consciousness - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Jul 13, 2017 6 facts

referenceHigher-order theories of consciousness maintain that a psychological state is conscious if and only if it is represented in the right way by a higher-order state.

claimDavid Chalmers (1996) argues that higher-order theories of consciousness lead to an unnecessarily 'cluttered picture of the mind' by postulating a distinct higher-order state for every conscious state.

claimCritics of higher-order theories of consciousness, such as Alex Byrne (1997) and Ned Block (2011), raise concerns regarding the possibility of objectless and non-veridical higher-order states.

referenceRocco Gennaro authored the book 'Consciousness and Self-Consciousness: A Defense of the Higher-Order Thought Theory of Consciousness', published by John Benjamins in 1996.

claimFred Dretske (1995) and Michael Tye (1995) question whether higher-order theories of consciousness can adequately account for the conscious states of infants and non-human animals.

referenceRocco Gennaro edited the book 'Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness', published by John Benjamins in 2004.

Consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 ... plato.stanford.edu Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Jun 18, 2004 3 facts

claimThe Multiple Drafts Model (MDM) shares elements with higher-order theories of consciousness because the contents composing the serial narrative are implicitly those of an ongoing virtual self, which are the contents most likely to be expressed in reports of conscious states.

claimSome variants of higher-order theories of consciousness remove the assumption that the meta-state must be distinct and separate from its lower-order object, as proposed by Gennaro (1995) and Van Gulick (2000, 2004).

claimHigher-order theories of consciousness define a conscious mental state as a mental state accompanied by a simultaneous, non-inferential, meta-mental state that indicates one is currently in that mental state.

The evolution of human-type consciousness – a by-product of ... frontiersin.org Frontiers 2 facts

claimHigher-order theories of consciousness, initially proposed by David Rosenthal in 1993 and reviewed by Rocco J. Gennaro in 2004, suggest that a mental state becomes conscious when a supplementary level of processing, such as perception or thought, occurs.

referenceGenaro (2004) reviews higher-order theories of consciousness.

Hard problem of consciousness - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia 2 facts

claimHigher-order theories of consciousness are a notable family of strong reductionist accounts.

referencePeter Carruthers authored 'Higher-order theories of consciousness' for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Fame in the Brain—Global Workspace Theories of Consciousness psychologytoday.com Psychology Today Oct 28, 2023 1 fact

claimGlobal Workspace Theories (GWTs) and higher-order theories of consciousness (HOTs) face challenges from evidence suggesting that anterior brain regions may be primarily involved in behavioral reporting rather than the generation of conscious experience itself.

The Evidence for AI Consciousness, Today - AI Frontiers ai-frontiers.org AI Frontiers Dec 8, 2025 1 fact

referenceHigher-order theories of consciousness (HOT) posit that mental states are conscious if the subject is aware of that state, which implies the ability to think about how one is thinking.

Adversarial testing of global neuronal workspace and ... - Nature nature.com Nature Apr 30, 2025 1 fact

claimThe failure to confirm the Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) prediction regarding the prefrontal cortex (PFC) challenges both GNWT and higher-order theories of consciousness that rely on the PFC to supply the content of visual consciousness.

Unknown source 1 fact

claimThe quantum-like model presented in the paper 'Quantum-like model for unconscious–conscious interaction and ...' formalizes the general scheme of the Higher Order Theory of Consciousness by serving as a mathematical framework for the generation of consciousness.

Hard Problem of Consciousness | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy 1 fact

referenceRobert Van Gulick authored the article 'Higher-Order Global States HOGS: An Alternative Higher-Order Model of Consciousness', which was published in the 2004 book 'Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness: An Anthology' by John Benjamins.