Consciousness as a Decoherent Process: An Explanatory Model Connecting Quantum Physics and Cognitive Science

The mainstream theories in consciousness research, such as Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) and Integrated Information Theory (IIT), respectively describe the "state" of global access to conscious information and the "degree" of conscious experience. However, neither adequately articulates the dynamic realization process by which specific conscious content emerges from a vast sea of parallel, pre-conscious activity into clear phenomenological experience. To address this gap, this paper proposes a "Consciousness Decoherence Model" grounded in a structured metaphor drawn from quantum decoherence theory. The model frames pre-conscious states as a superposition of multiple possible contents, and characterizes the formation of conscious awareness as a process of decoherence—triggered by internal and external "environments" (including sensory input, interoception, and, crucially, attention)—that stabilizes one specific classical state into reportable awareness. Through systematic conceptual mapping and comparative analysis with GNWT, IIT, and other recent decoherence-inspired frameworks, this paper demonstrates the model's unique explanatory power in unifying diverse cognitive phenomena such as creative insight, decision paralysis, and psychopathological states under a single dynamical logic. This paper is positioned as a philosophical and heuristic framework, intended to provide novel conceptual tools and orienting questions for future empirical inquiry.