The HI Theory of Core Consciousness
John Cochrane, 20 September 2025
Abstract
This article presents the HI Theory of Core Consciousness, which proposes a structured model of consciousness designed to account for both the variability of conscious experience and the essential, continuous quality of self-awareness. The model emphasizes the interplay of general intelligence, hemispheric specialization, and a central “core” process that integrates diverse cognitive functions into the stream of consciousness. The theory aligns with contemporary accounts such as Global Workspace Theory, higher-order models, and cortical column frameworks while offering a distinctive functional mapping between brain and mind.
Introduction
The study of consciousness has historically relied on first-person experience and philosophical speculation. Contemporary neuroscience, however, provides models linking large-scale brain processes to conscious awareness (Baars, 1997; Dehaene, 2014; Tononi et al., 2016). This article introduces the HI Theory of Core Consciousness, the first of four interrelated theories in the HI Mind framework. The model proposes that consciousness arises from both the distributed activity of the neocortex and interhemispheric integration, producing a minimal but essential form of self-awareness.
Intelligence and Consciousness
Human cognition involves capacities such as memory, reasoning, problem-solving, and creativity—qualities typically grouped under “general intelligence” (Carroll, 1993; Legg and Hutter, 2007). While intelligence is not identical to consciousness, it provides structured processing that directly supports conscious experience. In the HI Mind Model, intelligence can be considered “semi-conscious,” insofar as its operations are often accessible to and influenced by awareness.
The HI Mind Model
The HI Mind framework proposes five “focuses of mind,” representing functional specializations within the neocortex that contribute to human intelligence and consciousness. These are:
Social Focus – supports social bonding, learning from others, and cooperative behavior (Frith and Frith, 2012).
Aspirational Focus – underpins creativity, exploration, and imagination.
Cultural Focus – enables language, symbolic communication, and cumulative knowledge (Tomasello, 2014).
Noble Focus – supports morality, altruism, and experiences of awe (Singer and Klimecki, 2014).
Planning Focus – manages goal-directed reasoning and integrates outputs of the other focuses into conscious decision-making.
These focuses build upon a subconscious foundation, itself a highly complex but largely automatic system that is not directly available to awareness.
Hemispheric Organization
Evidence from split-brain and neuroimaging studies demonstrates hemispheric specialization: the left hemisphere is often associated with language and analytic reasoning, while the right is associated with creativity, spatial reasoning, and holistic processing (Gazzaniga, 2000; Corballis, 2014). Within the HI Mind framework, the Social and Cultural focuses are broadly aligned with left-hemisphere functions, whereas the Aspirational and Noble focuses align with the right. The Planning Focus is conceptualized as an integrative process bridging the hemispheres, reflecting the importance of midline structures such as the corpus callosum in unifying conscious experience (Tovar-Moll and Lent, 2017).
Core Consciousness
The concept of core consciousness has been advanced by Damasio (1999) to describe the essential aspect of awareness, distinct from the extended richness of memory, intelligence, and narrative. In the HI Mind framework, Core Consciousness is understood as the minimal, continuous self-awareness that persists across moment-to-moment experience. It functions to resolve conflicts among competing cognitive processes, maintain continuity of the self, and ground decision-making in real time.
While many brain regions contribute to consciousness, Core Consciousness represents the integrative capacity that produces a unified sense of being. This aligns with global integration accounts (Baars, 1997), theories emphasizing recurrent processing (Lamme, 2006), and recent models of cortical columnar processing (Hawkins and Blakeslee, 2021).
Conclusion
The HI Theory of Core Consciousness proposes that consciousness is best understood as a layered phenomenon: intelligence provides structured semi-conscious processing, hemispheric specialization supports complementary cognitive modes, and a central core mechanism ensures continuity of self-awareness. By framing Core Consciousness as the essential, integrative layer of awareness, this model seeks to simplify and clarify the challenge of defining what consciousness is and how it may be realized in the brain.
References
Baars, B. J. (1997). In the theater of consciousness: The workspace of the mind. Oxford University Press.
Carroll, J. B. (1993). Human cognitive abilities: A survey of factor-analytic studies. Cambridge University Press.
Corballis, M. C. (2014). Left brain, right brain: Facts and fantasies. PLoS Biology, 12(1), e1001767. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001767
Damasio, A. R. (1999). The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Harcourt Brace.
Dehaene, S. (2014). Consciousness and the brain: Deciphering how the brain codes our thoughts. Viking.
Frith, C. D., and Frith, U. (2012). Mechanisms of social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 63(1), 287–313. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100449
Gazzaniga, M. S. (2000). Cerebral specialization and interhemispheric communication: Does the corpus callosum enable the human condition? Brain, 123(7), 1293–1326. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/123.7.1293
Hawkins, J., and Blakeslee, S. (2021). A thousand brains: A new theory of intelligence. Basic Books.
Lamme, V. A. F. (2006). Towards a true neural stance on consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(11), 494–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.09.001
Legg, S., and Hutter, M. (2007). Universal intelligence: A definition of machine intelligence. Minds and Machines, 17(4), 391–444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-007-9079-x
Singer, T., and Klimecki, O. M. (2014). Empathy and compassion. Current Biology, 24(18), R875–R878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.054
Tomasello, M. (2014). A natural history of human thinking. Harvard University Press.
Tononi, G., Boly, M., Massimini, M., and Koch, C. (2016). Integrated information theory: From consciousness to its physical substrate. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17(7), 450–461. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2016.44
Tovar-Moll, F., and Lent, R. (2017). The various forms of neuroplasticity: Biological bases of learning and teaching. Prospects, 47(2), 199–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-018-9427-6