Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Antonio Lieto, Gian Luca Pozzato, Stefano Zoia, Viviana Patti, Rossana Damiano
Summary: DEGARI is an explainable system for emotion attribution and recommendation, utilizing the TCL logic and Plutchik model to generate commonsense representations of compound emotions, leading to encouraging results in various artistic domains.
KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Sergey B. Yurchenko
Summary: There are numerous theories on consciousness, but what is needed is a comprehensive framework to understand its nature. The Cognitive Evolution Theory proposes such a framework, which integrates the evolutionary history and dynamic characteristics of the brain, formalizes the stream of consciousness as a discrete chain of momentary states, and uses entropy as a measure of consciousness level.
FRONTIERS IN INTEGRATIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Nicolas Fuentes, Alexis Garcia, Ramon Guevara, Roberto Orofino, Diego M. Mateos
Summary: The use of anesthesia is important in studying consciousness. This study measures the complexity of electrocorticogram recordings in monkeys using information quantifiers, and finds that the complexity of brain activity can be used as an indicator of consciousness. Comparing different stages of anesthesia, it is found that propofol and medetomidine decrease brain activity complexity, while ketamine increases complexity measurements.
Article
Anesthesiology
Michael A. Brito, Duan Li, Christopher W. Fields, Chloe Rybicki-Kler, Jon G. Dean, Tiecheng Liu, George A. Mashour, Dinesh Pal
Summary: By analyzing the response of rat brains to subanesthetic doses of ketamine or nitrous oxide, this study found a correlation between cortical acetylcholine and neurophysiological complexity, frontoparietal connectivity, and level of consciousness.
ANESTHESIA AND ANALGESIA
(2022)
Article
Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
Lasse Gerrits, Sofia Pagliarin
Summary: This study aims to rearticulate the relationship between social and causal complexity with QCA, and suggests four possible strategies to bring social complexity back on focus during QCA analysis.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Philosophy
Joe Dewhurst
Summary: The paper introduces a new information-theoretic measure called 'effective information', which argues that certain complex systems exhibit causal emergence where interventions at the macro-level are more informative than at the micro-level. However, the author concludes that this form of causal emergence only supports an epistemic interpretation, rather than a truly exciting new concept.
THOUGHT-A JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
David Rudrauf, Gregoire Sergeant-Perthuis, Yvain Tisserand, Germain Poloudenny, Kenneth Williford, Michel-Ange Amorim
Summary: Consciousness is described as a global workspace that integrates perception, imagination, emotion, and action programming for adaptive decision making. Computational modeling can better help understand the mechanisms and relationships of consciousness. The Projective Consciousness Model (PCM) proposes that consciousness is structured as an internally organized space relying on 3D projective geometry and influenced by the Projective Group. These mechanisms enable adaptive perspective taking and drive simulation in social cognition.
Letter
Multidisciplinary Sciences
P. Lush, A. K. Seth
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Alexander Tschantz, Laura Barca, Domenico Maisto, Christopher L. Buckley, Anil K. Seth, Giovanni Pezzulo
Summary: This article uses the framework of active inference to simulate and study interoceptive control and its dysfunctions. Interoceptive control aims to minimize the discrepancy between expected and actual interoceptive sensations through different forms of control. The analysis of generative models within active inference provides predictions for physiological and brain signals, supporting empirical research.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Anil K. Seth, Tim Bayne
Summary: This article reviews four prominent theoretical approaches to consciousness and describes their characteristics and supporting evidence. The article suggests that further development, testing, and comparison of theories are needed to gain a deeper understanding of consciousness.
NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Pedro A. M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Andrea I. Luppi, Henrik J. Jensen, Anil K. Seth, Adam B. Barrett, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Daniel Bor
Summary: This article summarizes a recent formal theory of causal emergence based on information decomposition and discusses its application in various scenarios. The formalism quantifies emergence and is amenable to empirical testing.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Pedro A. M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Daniel Bor, Anil K. Seth, Adam B. Barrett
Summary: This article discusses the integrated information theory of consciousness (IIT) and argues that by distinguishing between strong IIT and weak IIT, the appeal and applicability of IIT can be greatly expanded. Strong IIT identifies consciousness with specific properties associated with maximum integrated information, while weak IIT tests pragmatic hypotheses that relate aspects of consciousness to broader measures of information dynamics. The authors review challenges for strong IIT, explain how existing empirical findings can be well explained by weak IIT without committing to strong IIT entirely, and discuss the outlook for both flavors of IIT.
TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Maxwell J. D. Ramstead, Anil K. Seth, Casper Hesp, Lars Sandved-Smith, Jonas Mago, Michael Lifshitz, Giuseppe Pagnoni, Ryan Smith, Guillaume Dumas, Antoine Lutz, Karl Friston, Axel Constant
Summary: This paper presents a version of neurophenomenology that utilizes computational modeling techniques based on generative modeling in neuroscience and biology. The approach, known as computational phenomenology, applies methods from computational modeling to create a formal model of descriptions of lived experience in philosophy. The paper provides an overview of the naturalization of phenomenology project, evaluates philosophical objections, and presents their approach in detail.
REVIEW OF PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Zafeirios Fountas, Anastasia Sylaidi, Kyriacos Nikiforou, Anil K. Seth, Murray Shanahan, Warrick Roseboom
Summary: Human perception and experience of time are influenced by various factors such as attention, memory, and perceptual stimulation. A comprehensive model of human time perception is introduced in this study, showing that cognitive load, scene type, and memory play significant roles in time experience.
NEURAL COMPUTATION
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Maxine T. Sherman, Zafeirios Fountas, Anil K. Seth, Warrick Roseboom
Summary: The subjective experience of time in humans is influenced by the environment, and time estimates are constructed by accumulating salient events. This study demonstrates that it is possible to reconstruct participants' subjective experience of time duration by analyzing salient events in their brain activity. These findings highlight the importance of perceptual processing of a dynamic environment in subjective time perception.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Zoltan Dienes, Pete Lush, Bence Palfi, Warrick Roseboom, Ryan Scott, Ben Parris, Anil Seth, Max Lovell
Summary: The article first reviews recent research from the laboratory, which interprets hypnotizability as a manifestation of the capacity for phenomenological control, allowing individuals to create subjective experiences in nonhypnotic contexts. It then examines phenomenological control as a metacognitive process, where intentional cognitive and motor actions occur without awareness of specific intentions. This article argues that various laboratory phenomena may be constructed through phenomenological control and presents a new theory of intentional binding to measure the absence of conscious intentions in a hypnotic context. There is no evidence that cold control confers abilities beyond the proposed metacognitive monitoring, and the article explores the negative correlation between mindfulness and cold control as a lack of mindfulness of intentions.
PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS-THEORY RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Hardik Rajpal, Pedro A. M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Christopher B. Timmermann, Stefan Brugger, Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, Anil K. Seth, Daniel Bor, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Henrik J. Jensen
Summary: Schizophrenia and psychotomimetic drug states share some similarities in terms of physiological and phenomenological properties, but they also have fundamental differences. By comparing the neural dynamics induced by LSD and ketamine with those associated with schizophrenia, this study found that both conditions exhibit increased neural signal diversity. However, schizophrenia is characterized by an increased transfer of neural entropy from the front to the back of the brain, while the two drugs result in an overall reduction of transfer entropy. Additionally, computational modeling suggests that the drugs reduce the precision of priors, while schizophrenia leads to an increased precision of sensory information. These findings provide new insights into the similarities and differences between schizophrenia and drug-induced states, and may have implications for the study of consciousness and future mental health treatments.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Lina I. Skora, James J. A. Livermore, Zoltan Dienes, Anil K. Seth, Ryan B. Scott
Summary: The extent to which high-level, complex functions can proceed unconsciously has been a topic of considerable debate. This study focuses on instrumental conditioning and aims to examine the feasibility of instrumental conditioning in the unconscious domain. The results suggest that complex forms of learning may rely on conscious access.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
David J. Schwartzman, Ales Oblak, Nicolas Rothen, Daniel Bor, Anil K. Seth
Summary: This article investigates the similarities between induced and lifelong visual experiences and finds that training can alter the visual experiences of non-synaesthetes and produce phenomena similar to natural grapheme-colour synaesthesia.
COLLABRA-PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Ophthalmology
Peter Lush, Anil K. Seth, Ryan B. Scott, Zoltan Dienes
Article
Psychology, Biological
Jolien C. Francken, Lola Beerendonk, Dylan Molenaar, Johannes J. Fahrenfort, Julian D. Kiverstein, Anil K. Seth, Simon van Gaal
Summary: This academic survey explores the theoretical and methodological foundations, common assumptions, and the current state of consciousness research. The results show that there is considerable discussion and debate among researchers regarding the definition and study of consciousness. The survey also reveals varying opinions on topics such as machine consciousness, the gradual development of consciousness in the animal kingdom, and extensive unconscious processing. Additionally, the survey highlights the most promising theories of consciousness, preferred measures to determine consciousness, and potential neural signatures. These findings provide insight into the current views of researchers in the field and can help prioritize research and theoretical approaches.
NEUROSCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
(2022)
Article
Philosophy
Anil K. Seth
Summary: Panpsychism argues that consciousness is fundamental and widespread, but it fails to explain anything or generate testable predictions, unlike materialist accounts of consciousness.
JOURNAL OF CONSCIOUSNESS STUDIES
(2021)
