Research Farid Zahnoun

Abstract

Within theoretical neuroscience, many have by now embraced the view of the brain as a prediction machine which updates its predictions in light of incoming information. Yet, these 'Predictive Processing' theories (PP) face big conceptual challenges. As I've shown previously, by relying on semantic notions like information, representation, prediction, hypothesis-testing etc., they resist integration within the larger causal-mechanistic framework of which they claim to be a part. The twofold problem is, first, how to make naturalistic sense of semantic content or meaning at the level of individual neurons or neural populations and, second, how the assumed semantic content is supposed to be causally efficacious. Yet, if we can't understand the neuroscientific data in terms of upstream information, downstream prediction and resulting prediction errors, how, then, should the neuroscientist interpret the bidirectional neural activity? Via 3 complementary research objectives (RO1-03), this project is aimed at providing an alternative explanation for the neuroscientific data which is traditionally framed in terms of information processing and, more recently, information prediction. For RO1, the pivotal move will be to substitute the problematic notion of prediction with an empirically underpinned biological notion of anticipation that does not involve semantic content, and which does fit within the boundaries of the causal-mechanistic framework. With RO2, this notion of anticipation-without-prediction will be applied to the neuroscientific findings the PP theorist explains in terms of prediction. RO3 will be dedicated to further study anticipation-without-prediction at the microbiological level via lab experiment. Overall, the project aims to present an alternative to the computationalist view of the brain, which identifies neural activity with information processing. In this sense, the project has paradigm-shifting potential

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Myin Erik
• Fellow: Zahnoun Farid

Research team(s)

• Centre for Philosophical Psychology

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Within neuroscience, invoking information is standard practice. Moreover, many have now embraced the view of the brain as a prediction machine which updates its predictions in light of incoming information. Yet, these 'Predictive Processing' theories face big conceptual challenges. By relying on semantic notions like information, representation, prediction etc., they resist integration within the larger causal-mechanistic framework of which they claim to be a part. Yet, if we can't understand the neuroscientific data in terms of upstream information, downstream prediction and resulting prediction errors, how, then, should the neuroscientist interpret the bidirectional neural activity? First, the project will reinterpret the data which the Predictive Processing theorist frames in terms of prediction. The pivotal move here will be to substitute the notion of prediction with an empirically and experimentally underpinned notion of anticipation that does fit within the boundaries of the causal-mechanistic framework. Second, the research will investigate in what sense the data can be applied to two outstanding philosophical problems: the nature of information (information as relative to anticipation) and the mind-body problem (anticipation as a phenomenon cutting across the physical-mental distinction). This essentially interdisciplinary project, then, aspires a fruitful cross-fertilization between philosophy and (theoretical and experimental) neuroscience.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Myin Erik
• Fellow: Zahnoun Farid

Research team(s)

• Centre for Philosophical Psychology

Project type(s)

• Research Project