“What Am I — Qualia, Brahman, Neurons, or just Nothing?”
Self-Construction examines the cognitive and biological mechanisms that assemble the sense of self from bodily predictions. It focuses on how the brain integrates internal signals to generate a localized identity.
Anil Seth's theory suggests that our sense of self is a 'controlled hallucination' generated by the brain's predictive models of its own internal bodily states (interoception). We experience being a self to keep our physiological systems within survival limits.
The brain predicts internal bodily signals (heart rate, respiration, gut feelings) to construct the basic, emotional sense of being a living organism. This interoceptive feedback forms the background presence of the minimal self.
When these predictive loops are disrupted (through meditation, trauma, or psychedelics), the brain's self-model collapses. Subjectively, this is experienced as the dissolution of the separate ego, exposing the constructed nature of identity.
Recommended research papers, debates, and lectures