New Books in Philosophy Andy Clark, “Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and Embodied Mind” (Oxford UP, 2016)
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Dec 15, 2016 Andy Clark, author of 'Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and Embodied Mind', discusses the predictive processing hypothesis and its relation to embodied cognition, attention modulation, and perceptual experience. They explore the role of top-down models, traditional debates in philosophy, and the relevance of the Cartesian evil demon in embodied cognition. They also delve into the cognitive penetrability of perception, implicit biases, and the importance of good information in minimizing prediction error.
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Brains as Prediction Machines
- Brains continuously predict incoming sensory data to form models of the world.
- Prediction errors update the models, enabling perception as a top-down meeting of expectation and sensation.
Sine Wave Speech Example
- Sine wave speech shows how prior knowledge transforms perception.
- Initially unintelligible tones become clear speech once you know what to expect.
Empirical Support for Predictive Processing
- Predictive processing is a progressive research program with growing empirical support.
- Studies show brain areas respond more to expectations than to raw sensory presence.