Consciousness and the structuring property of typical data

The theoretical base for consciousness, in particular, an explanation of how consciousness is defined by the brain, has long been sought by science. We propose a partial theory of consciousness as relations defined by typical data. The theory is based on the idea that a brain state on its own is almost meaningless but in the context of the typical brain states, defined by the brain's structure, a particular brain state is highly structured by relations. The proposed theory can be applied and tested both theoretically and experimentally. Precisely how typical data determines relations is fully established using discrete mathematics. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 2012