Psychology

PPIG: Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Group

Speaker: Adam Safron (Northwestern University, Chicago)

Title: Radical Embodiment, Consciousness, and the Cybernetic Bayesian Brain: Towards Teleology

Abstract: The Free Energy Principle (FEP) and Active Inference frameworks are revolutionary meta-theoretical paradigms that view dynamical systems as generative models representing latent (or hidden, or noumenal) causal relationships within and between self and world, entailing probabilistic inferences (i.e., beliefs) that specify through perception and action (i.e., enact) likely state transitions as “self-evidencing” autopoietic predictive control systems. I propose that bodies may have an even more central role for Bayesian brains than has previously been suggested by these frameworks, which already situate embodiment in its proper place as the basis of life and mind. The specific proposal is that body maps form foundational cores and scaffolding for all mental processes, so allowing minds to solve a number of seemingly intractable challenges ranging from unconstrained inference spaces to intentional control.

Further information

We are a group of researchers from diverse backgrounds in the above-mentioned groups (and beyond) who aim to gain an interdisciplinary yet deep understanding of the threads that bind the human mind and the world. In particular, this seminar series focuses on the nature of cognition, metacognition and social cognition. We’ll be tackling questions such as, what does it mean to think? What does it mean to think about thinking? And, what does it mean to think about one’s own thinking versus thinking about the thinking of other people? Please come along!

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Contact details

Tillmann Vierkant

Jul 24 2018 -

PPIG: Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Group

2018-07-24: Radical Embodiment, Consciousness, and the Cybernetic Bayesian Brain: Towards Teleology

Room G32, Psychology Building, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ