Fame in the predictive brain: a deflationary approach to explaining consciousness in the prediction error minimization framework
Synthese January 29, 2020 K. Dołęga, Joe E. Dewhurst
The predictive processing or prediction error minimization (PEM) framework, which models the brain as performing probabilistic inference and unconscious hypothesis testing, lacks a clear criterion for distinguishing conscious from unconscious mental states. The popular view that conscious experience corresponds to the 'winning hypothesis'—the one with the highest posterior probability that drives behavior—fails because some states controlling behavior (as in blindsight or subliminal priming) are not conscious. This problem can be resolved by augmenting PEM with Daniel Dennett's multiple drafts model of consciousness, a move justified by the similar roles attention and internal competition play in both frameworks.