The trajectory of self
Trends in Cognitive Sciences 20 (7):481-482 (2016)
Abstract
In a recent Opinion article, Sui and Humphreys [1] argue that experimental findings suggest self is ‘special’, in that self-reference serves a binding function within human cognitive economy. Contrasting their view with other functionalist positions, chiefly Dennett's [2], they deny that self is a convenient fiction and adduce findings to show that a ‘core self representation’ serves as an ‘integrative glue’ helping to bind distinct types of information as well as distinct stages of psycho- logical processing. In other words, where Dennett regards self as analogous to a center of gravity, a simplification posited by observers, Sui and Humphreys regard self as a function that modulates mental processes. In practice, however, the concept of ‘self’ they employ is not unlike Dennett's. We side with Sui and Humphreys in hold- ing that self-reference modulates mental processes: reference to self during a task can bind memory to source, increase perceptual integration, and link attention to decision making, among other things. What is more, these functions are not reducible to other factors such as semantic coding, familiarity, or reward [3]. But whereas Sui and Humphreys contribute important empirical detail, the binding functions they describe are compatible with Dennett's version of functionalism, which treats self as an artifact of social process.Author Profiles
DOI
10.1016/j.tics.2016.03.004
My notes
Similar books and articles
Resting state glutamate predicts elevated pre-stimulus alpha during self-relatedness: A combined EEG-MRS study on 'rest-self' overlap.Yu Bai, Timothy Lane, Georg Northoff & et al - 2015 - Social Neuroscience:DOI:10.1080/17470919.2015.107258.
Spontaneous activity in default-mode network predicts ascriptions of self-relatedness to stimuli.Pengmin Qin, Georg Northoff, Timothy Lane & et al - 2016 - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience:xx-yy.
The Brain at Rest: What It Is Doing and Why That Matters.Colin Klein - 2014 - Philosophy of Science 81 (5):974-985.
Binding by synchronisation: A task-dependence hypothesis.Guido Bugmann - 1997 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 20 (4):685-686.
Immanuel Kant's mind and the brain's resting state.Georg Northoff - 2012 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 16 (7):356-359.
'Hypotheses' and 'random activity' during the conditioning of dogs.W. N. Kellogg & I. S. Wolf - 1940 - Journal of Experimental Psychology 26 (6):588.
Maintaining binding in working memory: Comparing the effects of intentional goals and incidental affordances.Candice C. Morey - 2011 - Consciousness and Cognition 20 (3):920-927.
Is the Sense of Agency in Schizophrenia Influenced by Resting-State Variation in Self-Referential Regions of the Brain?Jeffrey Robinson, Nils-Frederic Wagner & Georg Northoff - 2016 - Schizophrenia Bulletin 42 (2):270-276.
Verification, skepticism, and consciousness.William E. Seager - 1993 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 36 (1-2):113-133.
Why Tononi is Wrong; Epileptic Seizure is More Complex Either than Sleep or the Resting State.Sean O. Nuallain & Tom Doris - 2014 - Cosmos and History 10 (1):232-236.
Is depressive rumination rational?Timothy Lane & Georg Northoff - 2016 - In T. W. Hung & T. J. Lane (eds.), Rationality: Constraints and Contexts. Oxford, UK: Elsevier. pp. 121-145.
Influences of Cognitive Control on Numerical Cognition—Adaptation by Binding for Implicit Learning.Korbinian Moeller, Elise Klein & Hans-Christoph Nuerk - 2013 - Topics in Cognitive Science 5 (2):335-353.
The foundation walls that are carried by the house: A critique of the poverty of stimulus thesis and a Wittgensteinian-Dennettian alternative.Wendy Lee-Lampshire - 1998 - Journal of Mind and Behavior 19 (2):177-193.
Stimulus generalization and spontaneous blinking in man involved in a voluntary activity.Y. Baumstimler & J. Parrot - 1971 - Journal of Experimental Psychology 88 (1):95.
Analytics
Added to PP
2016-03-09
Downloads
640 (#14,557)
6 months
73 (#15,567)
2016-03-09
Downloads
640 (#14,557)
6 months
73 (#15,567)
Historical graph of downloads
Author Profiles
Citations of this work
References found in this work
Resting state glutamate predicts elevated pre-stimulus alpha during self-relatedness: A combined EEG-MRS study on 'rest-self' overlap.Yu Bai, Timothy Lane, Georg Northoff & et al - 2015 - Social Neuroscience:DOI:10.1080/17470919.2015.107258.