As without, so within: How the brain’s temporospatial alignment to the environment shapes consciousness

Consciousness is characterized by a structure of foreground contents and an environmental background. This structure presupposes a relationship between the brain and the environment neglected in many neuroscientific theories of consciousness. One neuroscientific theory of consciousness that addresses the brain-environment relation is the Temporo-Spatial Theory of Consciousness (TTC). By the mechanism of “temporo-spatial alignment”, the TTC considers the symmetry and synchronization of the brain with the environment. Alignment is a mechanism by which the brain adapts to and coordinates its neuronal activity with various interoceptive bodily and exteroceptive environmental stimuli. Based on a synthesis between empirical data and theoretical considerations, we suggest a three-layer conceptual model of neurophenomenal mechanism for consciousness. The neuronal layers are constituted by various lengths of the brain’s intrinsic neuronal timescales that correspond to phenomenal layers of consciousness, such as the environmental background and specific contents in the foreground of consciousness. The suggested three layers are thus shared between the brain’s neuronal activity and consciousness, providing their “common currency” on dynamical grounds coupled to the environment. In establishing an intimate relationship between the environment and brain, temporo-spatial alignment can also be conceived in terms of basic physical-energetic processes, such as free energy, and the dynamical emergence of (a)symmetries.