Empirical Validation of the Consciousness Potential Framework: Developmental Trajectories in Cultured Cortical Networks and Clinical Group Differences in Dementia

This paper reports three empirical tests of the Consciousness Potential framework — a scalar Φ = I_A · (1 − H_norm) · I_M · I_R proposed in Howie (2026b) — on neural data spanning in vitro cortical development and clinical dementia EEG. Multi-electrode array recordings of cultured cortical networks (Wagenaar et al., 2006; days in vitro 7–35) show C × 100 rising from 0.7 at DIV 7 to a peak of 49.3 at DIV 25 and declining to 34.0 by DIV 35 — a non-monotonic developmental trajectory predicted by the four-component product but not by activity-only or connectivity-only measures. A single-cohort EEG analysis on OpenNeuro ds004504 (36 AD, 29 HC, 23 FTD) finds lower C × 100 in AD than HC at Cohen’s d = 0.48. A…