The Entropic Roots of Subjective Experience: A Receptor System Model of Consciousness in Infancy

Abstract This paper proposes a naturalistic model of subjective experience, or the “neural feel,” in a baby’s consciousness, arguing that qualia arise from the brain’s role as a receptor system that reduces informational entropy through structured sensory processing, mediated by emotions. The model unfolds in five stages: systemic reception, structured entropy reduction, base response formation, unique subjective interpretation, and subjective emergence. Emotions serve as tools for entropic organization, while contrast, context, expectancy, and duration shape the dynamic “feel.” The “Baseline + Bloom” framework captures the duality of universal neural responses and individualized qualia, emphasizing experiential development in infancy. By grounding subjectivity in entropy and emotion, this model narrows the Hard Problem of Consciousness, offering a testable, interdisciplinary account with implications for philosophy, neuroscience, and developmental psychology.