Minimal self-models and the free energy principle.
Frontiers in human neuroscience September 12, 2013 Jakub Limanowski, Felix Blankenburg 285 citations
Minimal phenomenal selfhood (MPS) is the basic, pre-reflective experience of being a self, emerging from self-modeling mechanisms rooted in bodily processes. The free energy principle (FEP) describes how self-organizing systems optimize hierarchical generative models of sensory causes by minimizing free energy. Predictive coding and active inference within the FEP highlight the role of embodiment for predictive self-modeling. This review maps MPS onto a hierarchical generative model under the FEP, explaining key constituents like multisensory integration, interoception, agency, perspective, and mineness. The authors conclude that this framework may underlie higher-level cognitive self-referral and understanding other minds.