Anil Seth - "Consciousness, perception, and prediction"

Duration: 28 mins 25 secs

Share this media item:

Embed this media item:

<iframe width="_width_" height="_height_" src="https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/2590575/embed" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Choose size:

About this item

Available Formats

About this item

Description:	This is a talk from Anil Seth (University of Sussex). It formed part of Session One of The Human Mind Conference: Brain & World: Perception & Consciousness


Created:	2017-10-24 14:25
Collection:	The Human Mind Conference
Publisher:	University of Cambridge
Copyright:	Anil Seth
Language:	eng (English)


Abstract:	Consciousness is, for each of us, the presence of a world. Without consciousness there is no world, no self: there is nothing at all. I will examine how the framework of prediction error minimisation (PEM) can help bridge from mechanism to phenomenology in the science of consciousness. I will advance the view that PEM, precisely because it is not a theory of consciousness, is an excellent theoretical framework for consciousness science. Focusing on experiences of the world around us, I will give some examples showing how perceptual predictions affect conscious access, as well as ongoing studies linking counterfactual predictions to the phenomenology of ‘presence’. Finally, I will turn to conscious selfhood and argue that the experience of being an embodied self depends on control-oriented predictive (allostatic) regulation of physiological homeostasis. Speculatively, this provides a way to understand the deeply subjective nature of consciousness as emerging from systems that care intrinsically about their own existence. Contrary to the old doctrine of Descartes, we are conscious because we are beast machines.

Abstract:

Consciousness is, for each of us, the presence of a world. Without consciousness there is no world, no self: there is nothing at all. I will examine how the framework of prediction error minimisation (PEM) can help bridge from mechanism to phenomenology in the science of consciousness. I will advance the view that PEM, precisely because it is not a theory of consciousness, is an excellent theoretical framework for consciousness science. Focusing on experiences of the world around us, I will give some examples showing how perceptual predictions affect conscious access, as well as ongoing studies linking counterfactual predictions to the phenomenology of ‘presence’. Finally, I will turn to conscious selfhood and argue that the experience of being an embodied self depends on control-oriented predictive (allostatic) regulation of physiological homeostasis. Speculatively, this provides a way to understand the deeply subjective nature of consciousness as emerging from systems that care intrinsically about their own existence. Contrary to the old doctrine of Descartes, we are conscious because we are beast machines.

Available Formats

Format	Quality	Bitrate	Size
MPEG-4 Video	640x360	1.94 Mbits/sec	413.47 MB	View	Download
WebM	640x360	619.53 kbits/sec	129.02 MB	View	Download
iPod Video	480x270	520.31 kbits/sec	108.29 MB	View	Download
MP3	44100 Hz	249.87 kbits/sec	52.04 MB	Listen	Download
Auto *	(Allows browser to choose a format it supports)