The self as avatar: an active inference account of ego dissolution
Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry September 13, 2024 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192898371.003.0003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Ego dissolution |
| Key points | Proposes that the self is a centre of interoceptive gravity implemented by neural circuitry integrating bodily, affective, and narrative processes, rather than a purely narrative construct. |
Abstract
Abstract Daniel Dennett famously argued that the self is a ‘centre of narrative gravity’. In fact, the self is best thought of as a centre of interoceptive gravity whose homeostatic and affective experiences are subsequently interpreted and communicated in a narrative. This idea explains feelings of persistence and unity in the normal case and changed nature of self-awareness in psychedelic experience. It also fits the neurocomputational evidence about the nature of ego dissolution. The ‘avatar’ or self-model represents this centre of gravity. It is implemented by a self-maintaining pattern of activity in circuitry that integrates and coordinates bodily, affective, and narrative/conceptual processes to optimize organismic function. The feeling of unity and persistence emerges from activity in this circuitry. The narrative ‘I’ reports but does not create this feeling which provides a locus of control and concern.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on ego dissolution, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self unbound: ego dissolution in psychedelic experience | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Ethics and ego dissolution: the case of psilocybin | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mystical and Other Alterations in Sense of Self: An Expanded Framework for Studying Nonordinary Experiences | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Psychedelic medicalization, public discourse, and the morality of ego dissolution | 2021 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 23
- The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2014
- Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 23, 2012
- Patterns of Brain Activity Supporting Autobiographical Memory, Prospection, and Theory of Mind, and Their Relationship to the Default Mode Network Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience July 6, 2009
- Active interoceptive inference and the emotional brain Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences October 11, 2016
- Mapping the self in the brain's default mode network Neuroimage February 15, 2016
and 18 more in the library