Sleep and Dreaming in the Predictive Processing Framework
Iris (Roma Tre University) January 1, 2017 Alessio Bucci, Matteo Grasso 25 citations
Predictive Processing (PP) offers a useful framework for understanding the peculiarities of dreaming but cannot fully explain how phenomenal consciousness arises during sleep. The authors propose that Integrated Information Theory (IIT) is better suited to address the emergence of consciousness and shows points of contact with PP. PP aligns with contemporary research on the adaptive function of sleep, and IIT can account for dreaming in evolutionary terms. Future research should examine bodily predictions in sleeping brain activity and the roles of REM and NREM sleep stages in refining the predictive machinery.