An Interoceptive Predictive Coding Model of Conscious Presence

We describe a theoretical model of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying conscious presence and its disturbances. The model is based on interoceptive prediction error and is informed by predictive models of agency, general models of hierarchical predictive coding and dopaminergic signaling in cortex, the role of the anterior insular cortex (AIC) in interoception and emotion, and cognitive neuroscience evidence from studies of virtual reality and of psychiatric disorders of presence, specifically depersonalization/derealization disorder. The model associates presence with successful suppression by top-down predictions of informative interoceptive signals evoked by autonomic control signals and, indirectly,…

• EA
  Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

  Awards: EP/G007543/1, EP/G007543/1
• FI
  FP7 Information and Communication Technologies

  Award: FP7-ICT-2009-5