Proceedings of the AAAI Symposium Series
May 18, 2026
Adam Safron, Victoria Klimaj, Zahra Sheikhbahaee
Here, we explore points of convergence between the Human Consciousness Hypothesis (HCH) and Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT). HCH posits that consciousness is defined by three fundamental principles: Genesis (conscious functions constituting an early-stage learning algorithm), Coherence (maximization of representational consistency), and Second-Order Perception (synchronous...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2026
Jonas Mago, George Deane, Lars Sandved-Smith et al.
Under the influence of psychedelics, people often report encountering "entities" who seem to have their own autonomous agency. Depending on the cultural milieu, these entities are reported to take a variety of forms, including spirits, elves, ancestors, or fragments of the self. Encounters with such beings hold a central place in many traditions of psychedelic practice around the world. And...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2025
Adam Safron, Arthur Juliani, Nicco Reggente et al.
44 citations
How is it that psychedelics so profoundly impact brain and mind? According to the model of "Relaxed Beliefs Under Psychedelics" (REBUS), 5-HT2a agonism is thought to help relax prior expectations, thus making room for new perspectives and patterns. Here, we introduce an alternative (but largely compatible) perspective, proposing that REBUS effects may primarily correspond to a particular (but...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2025
Chris Fields, Mahault Albarracin, Karl Friston et al.
6 citations
This paper examines the constraints that the free-energy principle (FEP) places on possible model of consciousness, particularly models of attentional control and imaginative experiences, including episodic memory and planning. We first rehearse the classical and quantum formulations of the FEP, focusing on their application to multi-component systems, in which only some components interact...
Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry
September 13, 2024
Anna Ciaunica, Adam Safron
Abstract This chapter examines the feeling of ‘losing’ the sense of familiarity with one’s self and body in depersonalization and psychedelic experiences through an ‘active inference’ lens. It is suggested that psychedelic-induced experiences may involve a stance with radically altered prior expectations, providing opportunities for flexibly modulating self- and world models. Specifically,...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
April 15, 2024
Arthur Juliani, Veronica Chelu, Laura Graesser et al.
4 citations
preprint
Abstract Serotonergic psychedelics have been identified as promising next-generation therapeutic agents in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. While their efficacy has been increasingly validated, the mechanism by which they exert a therapeutic effect is still debated. A popular theoretical account is that excessive 5-HT2a agonism disrupts cortical dynamics, relaxing the precision of...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2024
Arthur Juliani, Adam Safron, Ryota Kanai
9 citations
Abstract Psychedelic therapy has seen a resurgence of interest in the last decade, with promising clinical outcomes for the treatment of a variety of psychopathologies. In response to this success, several theoretical models have been proposed to account for the positive therapeutic effects of psychedelics. One of the more prominent models is “RElaxed Beliefs Under pSychedelics,” which proposes...
Front Neurorobot
November 14, 2023
Adam Safron, Inês Hipólito, Andy Clark
2 citations
Editorial: Bio A.I. - from embodied cognition to enactive robotics.
Interface Focus
April 14, 2023
Georg Northoff, Philipp Klar, Magnus Bein et al.
30 citations
Consciousness is constituted by a structure that includes contents as foreground and the environment as background. This structural relation between the experiential foreground and background presupposes a relationship between the brain and the environment, often neglected in theories of consciousness. The temporo-spatial theory of consciousness addresses the brain-environment relation by a...
Cognitive Sciences
March 1, 2023
Leonardo Christov-Moore, Alex Jinich-Diamant, Adam Safron et al.
Our culture and its scientific endeavor direly need a holistic characterization of mind and body. Many phenomena attest to the profound effects of beliefs on bodily function (e.g., open-label placebo's effects on chronic pain) and interoceptive systems' role in mental processes (e.g., the emerging role of gut microbiomes in the mood). We need a mechanistic, integrative framework to account for...
Front Comput Neurosci
November 24, 2022
Adam Safron
32 citations
Integrated world modeling theory (IWMT) is a synthetic theory of consciousness that uses the free energy principle and active inference (FEP-AI) framework to combine insights from integrated information theory (IIT) and global neuronal workspace theory (GNWT). Here, I first review philosophical principles and neural systems contributing to IWMT's integrative perspective. I then go on to...
September 8, 2022
Adam Safron, Matthew Johnson
5 citations
preprint
Here we consider psychedelics with respect to their mechanisms of action, use, and implications for our understandings of brain and mind. This review is somewhat nontraditional in its scope, with discussions of both basic facts as well as theoretical speculations. We chose this approach given the unique historical context we find ourselves in at present. While we have decades of investigations...
March 13, 2022
Anna Ciaunica, Adam Safron
8 citations
preprint
Across times and cultures, humans constantly and intentionally tried to ‘lose’ or to ‘escape’ their familiar, ordinary self, to ‘self-detach’ and to radically change the ways of perceiving oneself and the world. In this paper we explore the contrast between the feeling of ‘losing’ the sense of familiarity with one’s self and body in Depersonalisation experiences (DP) and psychedelics (with some...
June 21, 2021
Adam Safron
preprint
Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) is a synthetic theory of consciousness that uses the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference (FEP-AI) framework to combine insights from Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT). Here, I first review philosophical principles and neural systems contributing to IWMT’s integrative perspective. I then go on to...
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
June 20, 2021
Adam Safron
53 citations
Drawing from both enactivist and cognitivist perspectives on mind, I propose that explaining teleological phenomena may require reappraising both "Cartesian theaters" and mental homunculi in terms of embodied self-models (ESMs), understood as body maps with agentic properties, functioning as predictive-memory systems and cybernetic controllers. Quasi-homuncular ESMs are suggested to constitute...
International Workshop on Affective Interactions
August 28, 2020
Adam Safron
preprint
Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) is a synthetic model that attempts to unify theories of consciousness within the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference framework, with particular emphasis on Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT). IWMT further suggests predictive processing in sensory hierarchies may be well-modeled as (folded, sparse,...
Frontiers in artificial intelligence
2020
Adam Safron
The Free Energy Principle and Active Inference Framework (FEP-AI) begins with the understanding that persisting systems must regulate environmental exchanges and prevent entropic accumulation. In FEP-AI, minds and brains are predictive controllers for autonomous systems, where action-driven perception is realized as probabilistic inference. Integrated Information Theory (IIT) begins with...
Socioaffective neuroscience & psychology
2016
Adam Safron
56 citations
Orgasm is one of the most intense pleasures attainable to an organism, yet its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. On the basis of existing literatures, this article introduces a novel mechanistic model of sexual stimulation and orgasm. In doing so, it characterizes the neurophenomenology of sexual trance and climax, describes parallels in dynamics between orgasms and seizures,...
Adam Safron
preprint
The Free Energy Principle and Active Inference Framework (FEP-AI) begins with the understanding that persisting systems must regulate environmental exchanges and prevent entropic accumulation. In FEP-AI, minds and brains are predictive controllers for autonomous systems, where action-driven perception is realized as probabilistic inference. Integrated Information Theory (IIT) begins with...
Adam Safron
preprint
In this brief commentary on The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness, I describe ways in which Mark Solms’ account of the origins of subjective experience relates to Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT). IWMT is a synthetic theory that brings together different perspectives, with the ultimate goal of solving the enduring problems of consciousness, including the Hard...