{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T17:27:00Z","timestamp":1778174820583,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":132,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,4]],"date-time":"2025-08-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1754265600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"US National Institutes","award":["R44AG077965"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R44AG077965"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The organization of consciousness is described through increasingly rich theoretical models. We review evidence that working memory capacity\u2014essential to generating consciousness in the cerebral cortex\u2014is supported by dual limbic memory systems. These dorsal (Papez) and ventral (Yakovlev) limbic networks provide the basis for mnemonic processing and prediction in the dorsal and ventral divisions of the human neocortex. Empirical evidence suggests that the dorsal limbic division is (i) regulated preferentially by excitatory feedforward control, (ii) consolidated by REM sleep, and (iii) controlled in waking by phasic arousal through lemnothalamic projections from the pontine brainstem reticular activating system. The ventral limbic division and striatum, (i) organizes the inhibitory neurophysiology of NREM to (ii) consolidate explicit memory in sleep, (iii) operating in waking cognition under the same inhibitory feedback control supported by collothalamic tonic activation from the midbrain. We propose that (i) these dual (excitatory and inhibitory) systems alternate in the stages of sleep, and (ii) in waking they must be balanced\u2014at criticality\u2014to optimize the active inference that generates conscious experiences. Optimal Bayesian belief updating rests on balanced feedforward (excitatory predictive) and feedback (inhibitory corrective) control biases that play the role of prior and likelihood (i.e., sensory) precision. Because the excitatory (E) phasic arousal and inhibitory (I) tonic activation systems that regulate these dual limbic divisions have distinct affective properties, varying levels of elation for phasic arousal (E) and anxiety for tonic activation (I), the dual control systems regulate sleep and consciousness in ways that are adaptively balanced\u2014around the entropic nadir of E\u2013I criticality\u2014for optimal self-regulation of consciousness and psychological health. Because they are emotive as well as motive control systems, these dual systems have unique qualities of feeling that may be registered as subjective experience.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e27080829","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,6]],"date-time":"2025-08-06T15:09:53Z","timestamp":1754492993000},"page":"829","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["The Criticality of Consciousness: Excitatory\u2013Inhibitory Balance and Dual Memory Systems in Active Inference"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Don M.","family":"Tucker","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company, 440 E. Broadway, Suite 200, Eugene, OR 97401, USA"},{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Phan","family":"Luu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company, 440 E. Broadway, Suite 200, Eugene, OR 97401, USA"},{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7984-8909","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Karl J.","family":"Friston","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Imaging Neuroscience, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, UK"},{"name":"VERSES AI Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Baars, B.J. (1986). 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