The Induced-Consciousness Theory (ICT): A New Conceptual Delineation

The present paper attempts to address the question of how an unconscious mental state (M) can be changed into a conscious one, by developing the induced-consciousness theory (ICT). According to the essential assumptions of this theory, the cognitive system includes an innate consciousness-generation process that creates consciousness and an enabling-consciousness condition that triggers the above process to automatically confer consciousness on certain states or processes once this condition has been fulfilled. As a result of their activation, the individual becomes aware (conscious) of M. This theory is applied successfully to certain empirical observations and it overcomes several problems, which the higher-order thought (HOT) theory has found difficult to handle.