{"paper":{"title":"Game-Theoretic Foundations of Competition for Conscious Access","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":[],"primary_cat":"cs.GT","authors_text":"Efthyvoulos Drousiotis, Paul Spirakis, Sotiris Nikoletseas","submitted_at":"2026-05-30T09:51:52Z","abstract_excerpt":"Conscious access in the human brain is often described as the outcome of a competition among candidate representations, but this competition is usually left at the level of mechanism or metaphor rather than analyzed as a strategic allocation problem. We introduce an access contest in which internal modules compete for a scarce broadcast slot by choosing a costly amplification effort. Access is allocated by a smooth probabilistic rule, allowing the model to interpolate between diffuse selection and winner-take-all competition. We establish pure-strategy equilibrium existence under standard conv"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2606.11242","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2606.11242/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}