Formal analysis of Damasio's theory on core consciousness

Abstract

This article presents a formal analysis of Damasio’s theory on core consciousness. Three important concepts in this theory are “emotion”, “feeling”, and “feeling a feeling ” (or core consciousness). In particular, a simulation model is described of the neural dynamics leading via emotion and feeling to core consciousness, and dynamic properties are formally specified that hold for these dynamics. These properties have been automatically checked for the simulation model. Moreover, a formal analysis is made and verified of relevant notions of representation.