The hows and whys of attention: a neurophilosophical exploration based on active inference

• Grant number: 23/05458-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Epistemology
• Principal Investigator: Osvaldo Frota Pessoa Junior
• Grantee: Maria Luiza Iennaco de Vasconcelos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/07686-0 - The current status of attention in predictive models of cognition: a non-reductionist neurophilosophical analysis, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Attention is a widely studied phenomenon in philosophy and cognitive sciences. However, the scientific literature on the subject presents several ambiguities and inaccuracies regarding its definition and attributions, suggesting the existence of epistemological difficulties and even ontological divergences in its study. This research project aims to contribute to the eventual attenuation of this scenario by exploring more rigorous and relatively comprehensible ways to handle and operationalize attention. The project begins with a critical review of the current state of the field, followed by an investigation of whether the use of biogenic approaches could offer a way to alleviate internal divergences and overcome its main difficulties. Based on this process, the project will explore how the increasingly popular neurocomputational framework of Active Inference could shed light on our understanding of the emergence, development, and configuration of attention to better explain, predict, and manipulate its central aspects. Finally, the project will identify the main theoretical and methodological limitations of this endeavor, seeking to overcome them and clarify their status within the current pragmatic and radically embodied proposals for the philosophy of cognition. (AU)