scholarly journals Predictive processing as a systematic basis for identifying the neural correlates of consciousness

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (II) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Hohwy ◽  
Anil Seth
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Promising Candidate ◽  
Neural Correlates Of Consciousness ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Strong Potential ◽  
Processing Framework

The search for the neural correlates of consciousness is in need of a systematic, principled foundation that can endow putative neural correlates with greater predictive and explanatory value. Here, we propose the predictive processing framework for brain function as a promising candidate for providing this systematic foundation. The proposal is motivated by that framework’s ability to address three general challenges to identifying the neural correlates of consciousness, and to satisfy two constraints common to many theories of consciousness. Implementing the search for neural correlates of consciousness through the lens of predictive processing delivers strong potential for predictive and explanatory value through detailed, systematic mappings between neural substrates and phenomenological structure. We conclude that the predictive processing framework, precisely because it at the outset is not itself a theory of consciousness, has significant potential for advancing the neuroscience of consciousness.

scholarly journals Predictive processing as a systematic basis for identifying the neural correlates of consciousness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Hohwy ◽  
Anil Seth
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Promising Candidate ◽  
Neural Correlates Of Consciousness ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Strong Potential ◽  
Processing Framework

The search for the neural correlates of consciousness is in need of a systematic, principled foundation that can endow putative neural correlates with greater predictive and explanatory value. Here, we propose the predictive processing framework for brain function as a promising candidate for providing this systematic foundation. The proposal is motivated by that framework’s ability to address three general challenges to finding the neural correlates of consciousness, and to satisfy two constraints common to many theories of consciousness. Implementing the search for neural correlates of consciousness through the lens of predictive processing delivers strong potential for predictive and explanatory value through detailed, systematic mappings between neural substrates and phenomenological structure. We conclude that the predictive processing framework, precisely because it at the outset is not itself a theory of consciousness, has significant potential for advancing the neuroscience of consciousness.

scholarly journals You can't always get what you want

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Schlicht ◽  
Krzysztof Dolega
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Philosophical Investigation ◽  
Neural Correlates Of Consciousness ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Processing Framework

The predictive processing framework has gained significant popularity across disciplines investigating the mind and brain. In this article we critically examine two of the recently made claims about the kind of headway that the framework can make in the neuroscientific and philosophical investigation of consciousness. Firstly, we argue that predictive processing is unlikely to yield significant breakthroughs in the search for the neural correlates of consciousness as it is still too vague to individuate neural mechanisms at a fine enough scale. Despite its unifying ambitions, the framework harbors a diverse family of competing computational models which rely on different assumptions and are under-constrained by neurological data. Secondly, we argue that the framework is also ill suited to provide a unifying theory of consciousness. Here, we focus on the tension between the claim that predictive processing is compatible with all of the leading neuroscientific models of consciousness with the fact that most attempts explaining consciousness within the framework rely heavily on external assumptions.

scholarly journals Ask and You Shall Receive: A closer look on unsolved consciousness issue

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Motavalli ◽  
◽  
Javad Mahmoudi ◽  
Alireza Majdi ◽  
Saeed Sadigh-Eteghad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Narrative Review ◽  
Historical Aspects ◽  
Neural Correlates Of Consciousness ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Brain

Although there are numerous views about the concept of consciousness, no consensus exists regarding the meaning. However, with the aid of the latest neuroscientific developments, the misleading obstacles related to consciousness have been removed. Over the last few decades, neuroscientific efforts in determining the function of the brain and merging these findings with philosophical theories, have brought a more comprehensive perception of the notion of consciousness. In addition to metaphysical/ontological views of consciousness e.g., higher-order theories, reflexive theories, and representationalist theories, there are some brain directed topics in this matter which include but not are limited to neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), brain loop connectivity, and lateralization. This narrative review sheds light on cultural and historical aspects of consciousness in old and middle ages and introduces some of the prominent philosophical discussions related to mind and body. Also, it illustrates the correlation of brain function with states of consciousness with a focus on the roles of function and connectivity.

scholarly journals Mathematics and the Brain: A Category Theoretical Approach to Go Beyond the Neural Correlates of Consciousness

Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Northoff ◽  
Naotsugu Tsuchiya ◽  
Hayato Saigo
Keyword(s):  
Natural Transformation ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Mathematical Framework ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Neural Correlates Of Consciousness ◽  
Formal Framework ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Integrated Information Theory

Consciousness is a central issue in neuroscience, however, we still lack a formal framework that can address the nature of the relationship between consciousness and its physical substrates. In this review, we provide a novel mathematical framework of category theory (CT), in which we can define and study the sameness between different domains of phenomena such as consciousness and its neural substrates. CT was designed and developed to deal with the relationships between various domains of phenomena. We introduce three concepts of CT which include (i) category; (ii) inclusion functor and expansion functor; and, most importantly, (iii) natural transformation between the functors. Each of these mathematical concepts is related to specific features in the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). In this novel framework, we will examine two of the major theories of consciousness, integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness and temporospatial theory of consciousness (TTC). We conclude that CT, especially the application of the notion of natural transformation, highlights that we need to go beyond NCC and unravels questions that need to be addressed by any future neuroscientific theory of consciousness.

A challenge for predictive coding: Representational or experiential diversity?

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina G. Vilas ◽  
Lucia Melloni
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Process Theory

Abstract To become a unifying theory of brain function, predictive processing (PP) must accommodate its rich representational diversity. Gilead et al. claim such diversity requires a multi-process theory, and thus is out of reach for PP, which postulates a universal canonical computation. We contend this argument and instead propose that PP fails to account for the experiential level of representations.

scholarly journals Can binocular rivalry reveal neural correlates of consciousness?

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1641) ◽  
pp. 20130211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph Blake ◽  
Jan Brascamp ◽  
David J. Heeger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Neural Dynamics ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Neural Correlate ◽  
Neural Correlates Of Consciousness ◽  
Neural Correlate Of Consciousness

This essay critically examines the extent to which binocular rivalry can provide important clues about the neural correlates of conscious visual perception. Our ideas are presented within the framework of four questions about the use of rivalry for this purpose: (i) what constitutes an adequate comparison condition for gauging rivalry's impact on awareness, (ii) how can one distinguish abolished awareness from inattention, (iii) when one obtains unequivocal evidence for a causal link between a fluctuating measure of neural activity and fluctuating perceptual states during rivalry, will it generalize to other stimulus conditions and perceptual phenomena and (iv) does such evidence necessarily indicate that this neural activity constitutes a neural correlate of consciousness? While arriving at sceptical answers to these four questions, the essay nonetheless offers some ideas about how a more nuanced utilization of binocular rivalry may still provide fundamental insights about neural dynamics, and glimpses of at least some of the ingredients comprising neural correlates of consciousness, including those involved in perceptual decision-making.

Priors and Prejudice: How prior knowledge shapes intergroup perception

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh McGovern ◽  
Marte Otten
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Social Neuroscience ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Intergroup Perception ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Processing Framework

Bayesian processing has become a popular framework by which to understand cognitive processes. However, relatively little has been done to understand how Bayesian processing in the brain can be applied to understanding intergroup cognition. We assess how categorization and evaluation processes unfold based on priors about the ethnic outgroup being perceived. We then consider how the precision of prior knowledge about groups differentially influence perception depending on how the information about that group was learned affects the way in which it is recalled. Finally, we evaluate the mechanisms of how humans learn information about other ethnic groups and assess how the method of learning influences future intergroup perception. We suggest that a predictive processing framework for assessing prejudice could help accounting for seemingly disparate findings on intergroup bias from social neuroscience, social psychology, and evolutionary psychology. Such an integration has important implications for future research on prejudice at the interpersonal, intergroup, and societal levels.

Neuroplasticity in Music Learning

2018 ◽  
pp. 545-563
Author(s):  
Vesa Putkinen ◽  
Mari Tervaniemi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Training Transfer ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Music Learning ◽  
Functional Brain ◽  
Related Potentials

Studies conducted during the last three decades have identified numerous differences between musicians and non-musicians in neural correlates of sensory, motor, and higher-order cognitive functions. Research employing event-related potentials/fields has been particularly important in this framework. This chapter reviews the evidence that has emerged from these studies with emphasis on longitudinal studies comparing functional brain development in children taking music lessons and those engaged in non-musical activities. The literature provides empirical and theoretical grounds for concluding that musical training enhances sound encoding skills that are relevant for both music and speech processing. The question whether the benefits of musical training transfer to more distantly related cognitive functions remains controversial, however. Finally, it appears likely that training-induced plasticity alone does not account for the differences in brain function between musicians and non-musicians and, conversely, that predisposing factors also play a role.

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