Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35356269›Full record

ArticleNeuroscience of consciousness2022

Functions of consciousness: conceptual clarification.

Takuya Niikawa, Katsunori Miyahara, Hiro Taiyo Hamada, Satoshi Nishida

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neuroscience of consciousness, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Consciousness at sea.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  3. The evolutionary functions of consciousness.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Katsunori MiyaharaCenter for Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience (CHAIN), Hokkaido University, Kita 12 Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0812, Japan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7747-6654
Hiro Taiyo HamadaNeurotechnology R&D Unit, Araya Inc., 1-12-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-6024, Japan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7919-9125
Satoshi NishidaCenter for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0555-518X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There are many theories of the functions of consciousness. How these theories relate to each other, how we should assess them, and whether any integration of them is possible are all issues that remain unclear. To contribute to a solution, this paper offers a conceptual framework to clarify the theories of the functions of consciousness. This framework consists of three dimensions: (i) target, (ii) explanatory order, and (iii) necessity/sufficiency. The first dimension, target, clarifies each theory in terms of the kind of consciousness it targets. The second dimension, explanatory order, clarifies each theory in terms of how it conceives of the explanatory relation between consciousness and function. The third dimension, necessity/sufficiency, clarifies each theory in terms of the necessity/sufficiency relation posited between consciousness and function. We demonstrate the usefulness of this framework by applying it to some existing scientific and philosophical theories of the functions of consciousness.

Indexed as

functional basisfunctional contributionfunction of consciousnessmeta-theoretical project

Identifiers

PMID35356269
PMCPMC8963277

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.