Steps towards a minimal unifying model of consciousness: An integration of models of consciousness based on the free energy principle

This paper aims to assess whether the recently proposed "inner screen model" of consciousness that follows from the free-energy principle (FEP) can be regarded as a minimal unifying model (MUM) of consciousness, thereby providing a common foundational model for consciousness studies, and integrating approaches to consciousness based on the FEP. We first present the inner screen model, which follows from applying the quantum information theoretic version of the FEP to the known sparse (nested and hierarchical) neuroanatomy of the brain. We then review models of consciousness that are premised on the FEP. Specifically, we review Bayesian versions of the global workspace and attention schema theories, theories premised on world-models and self-models, and models formalizing the computational structure and properties of time-consciousness. We then discuss how extant FEP-theoretic models of consciousness can be situated with respect to the candidate MUM.