How do inner screens enable imaginative experience? Applying the free-energy principle directly to the study of conscious experience.
Chris Fields, Mahault Albarracin, Karl Friston, Alex Kiefer, Maxwell J D Ramstead, Adam Safron
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2025 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niaf009 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Depression |
| Keywords | Aphantasia Cognitive architecture Inner speech Metacognition Planning Visual imagery Visualization Mental pictures Mental representation Mental processes Thinking Information processing Consciousness introspection Self-awareness Inner experience Mental health |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key points | Argues that the free-energy principle's formal structure, particularly Markov blankets, supports models of attentional control and imaginative experience, explaining how such experience can be internally generated yet surprising. |
Abstract
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 directly with the external environment. In particular, we discuss the role of internal boundaries that have the structure of Markov blankets, and hence function as classical information channels between components. We then show how this formal structure supports models of attentional control and imaginative experience, with a focus on (i) how imaginative experience can employ the spatio-temporal and object-recognition reference frames employed in ordinary, non-imaginative experience and (ii) how imaginative experience can be internally generated but still surprising. We conclude by discussing the implementation, phenomenology, and phylogeny of imaginative experience, and the implications of the large state and trait variability of imaginative experience in humans.
Comparable studies
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|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Psilocybin-assisted therapy of major depressive disorder using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a therapeutic frame | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Yale Manual for Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy of Depression (using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a Therapeutic Frame) | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Neuroinflammation and neuroprogression in depression: Effects of alternative drug treatments | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Improving cognitive functioning in major depressive disorder with psychedelics: A dimensional approach | 2021 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Edging thermodynamic equilibrium : mystical experiences as “mirror” encounters between the entropic brain and the entropic world Philosophical Psychology October 22, 2025
- Dream content and slow waves benefit prey against predator in a video game confrontation Scientific Reports March 13, 2026
- Conscious active inference I: A quantum model naturally implements the path integral needed for real-time planning and control. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal 2025
Cites 26
- Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self Trends in Cognitive Sciences October 12, 2013
- REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics Pharmacological Reviews June 20, 2019
- An Interoceptive Predictive Coding Model of Conscious Presence Frontiers in Psychology 2012
- The Predictive Coding Account of Psychosis. Biological Psychiatry May 25, 2018
- A predictive processing theory of sensorimotor contingencies: Explaining the puzzle of perceptual presence and its absence in synesthesia Cognitive Neuroscience January 21, 2014
and 21 more in the library