Deane, G.
University of Edinburgh
This poster/talk will explore the view that consciousness corresponds to the top-down global revision (GR) of the generative model posited by predictive processing. Predictive processing (PP) acts as a powerful framework to build a theory of consciousness due to its successes in accounting for a range of phenomenological contents (Clark, 2015; Hohwy, 2013). The GR picture synthesizes and accords with many existing theories and models of consciousness, including the global workspace theory (Dehaene and Changeux, 2011), the two-stage model (Herzog, 2016) and integrated information theory (Oizumi et al, 2014). Consciousness emerges as a post-hoc upshot of unconscious processing and integration that is globally broadcast, preparing (and priming) the model both for subsequent revision and action. GR accounts for the wide range of cognitive functions able to be performed unconsciously as it is only novel integrations that correspond to the conscious condition. In this way, consciousness is fundamentally related to learning, functioning to flexibly automate novel functions into computationally inexpensive (and unconscious) modules. Only content that is novel and requires novel and flexible integrations constitutes experience. Numerous philosophical, empirical and theoretical implications follow from GR, most pertinent to PP is that GR presents a novel account of consciousness within PP and some initial steps for incorporating existing consciousness science into a PP framework.
Clark, A. (2015). Surfing uncertainty: Prediction, action, and the embodied mind. Oxford University Press.
Dehaene, S., & Changeux, J. P. (2011). Experimental and theoretical approaches to conscious processing. Neuron, 70(2), 200-227.
Herzog, M. H., Kammer, T., & Scharnowski, F. (2016). Time slices: what is the duration of a percept?. PLoS biology, 14(4), e1002433.
Hohwy, J. (2013). The predictive mind. Oxford University Press.
Oizumi, M., Albantakis, L., & Tononi, G. (2014). From the phenomenology to the mechanisms of consciousness: integrated information theory 3.0. PLoS computational biology, 10(5), e1003588.