Global Workspace Consciousness Simulator

Neural Workspace

Connectivity 0.55

Ignition threshold 0.42

Stimulus rate 1.2 Hz

Integration Φ0.00

Active modules

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Global broadcasts

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How it works

The hard problem of consciousness asks why physical processes give rise to subjective experience at all. This simulator doesn't try to answer that — instead it visualizes two influential, measurable proposals about the physical correlates of conscious access: Global Workspace Theory (GWT) and a simplified integrated-information index inspired by IIT. Each glowing node is a neural module with its own local activation, which leaks away over time and rises whenever a random "stimulus" hits it or a connected neighbor is active. Most of the time activity stays local — a few modules light up and fade without the rest of the network noticing.

Φ ≈ meanActivation · activeFraction · connectivityDensity
ignite when Φ ≥ threshold → every module's state becomes globally available

When enough modules synchronize, the integration index Φ crosses the ignition threshold and the whole network "ignites" in a single global flash — the geometric analogue of GWT's claim that conscious access is what happens when local information is broadcast widely enough to become available to the whole system, and of IIT's claim that consciousness tracks how much a system's information is irreducibly integrated rather than just locally processed.

Connectivity — how many other modules each one can influence directly; sparse networks rarely ignite, dense ones ignite easily and often.
Ignition threshold — how much integrated activity is required before a local flicker becomes a global broadcast; lower it and even modest stimulation floods the whole workspace.
Stimulus rate — how often random "sensory" input perturbs a module; more frequent input keeps more modules active and pushes Φ upward.
Φ (integration) — the simplified index above; it rewards activity that is both widespread and well-connected, not just intense in one place, echoing IIT's intuition that consciousness requires integrated, not merely parallel, information.

Real-world relevance: GWT and IIT are two of the leading frameworks neuroscientists use to explain neural correlates of consciousness — from anesthesia depth monitoring to distinguishing locked-in patients from those in a vegetative state, both areas covered in the accompanying article.

⚡ GLOBAL BROADCAST

Dormant module Active module Ignition flash

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