Jakob Hohwy

@mitpress.bsky.social is set up and ready to go #CNS2026

YouTube video by Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies Meditation dose with Dr. Sarah Strohmaier | M3CS Seminar Series

The recording from my conversation with Craig Hassed chaired by @hohwy.bsky.social about my #research on #meditation #dose as part of the the @monash-m3cs.bsky.social Seminar Series is now available to watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn5z...
Let me know your thoughts/questions!
#mindfulness

Orbitofrontal cortex drives predictive filtering of sensory responses - Nature Neuroscience Top-down projections from the orbitofrontal cortex carry predictive signals that grow with sound experience and suppress the auditory cortex via inhibitory circuits, revealing a predictive mechanism f...

Orbitofrontal cortex drives predictive filtering of sensory responses

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#neuroskyence

Refining the Observed Mindfulness Measure to Create and Validate the Observed Mindful Behaviours Scale - Mindfulness Objectives To offer another lens to study how mindfulness influences behaviours and social relationships, this paper reports the creation of the Observed Mindful Behaviours (OMB) scale. The OMB respon...

Can you observe someone else's mindfulness in the way they act? We need proper tools to investigate this critical second-person perspective on mindfulness.

Masterfully led by Larissa Bartlett, this OA study validates the Observed Mindful Behaviours Scale.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Applications are now open for 2 PhD scholarships on the “The Diversity and Variability of Grief” at Macquarie University, Sydney. 1/3 www.mq.edu.au/research/phd...

Neurobiological illness models of schizophrenia and stigma reduction: has that ship sailed? - Schizophrenia Schizophrenia - Neurobiological illness models of schizophrenia and stigma reduction: has that ship sailed?

Delighted to share our new paper on schizophrenia-related stigma. We argue that explanatory models grounded in predictive processing may offer advantages over classical neurobiological illness models in understanding psychosis — and may even help reduce stigma. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ida Momennejad, The Ontological Reversal of Computation and the Brain - PhilArchive The Brain Abstracted (2025) critiques treating abstractions in neuroscience as complete explanations of the brain, for their oversimplification and control-orientation. Chirimuuta argues that neurosci...

On the invitation for a commentary on Mazviita Chirimuuta's The Brain Abstracted, I had the pleasure of writing on equating the brain with computation.

The Ontological Reversal of Computation and the Brain

in Philosophy & the Mind Sciences.
Below see what I agree & disagree with in the book.
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The Self-Evidencing Agent: Mind, Existence, and Predictive Processing How the concept of self-evidencing offers a philosophical principle for understanding mind and behavior, consciousness, value, wisdom, and meaning.What is

Here is the direct link to the Open Access book. The "book pdf" downloads the whole book, or there are links for individual chapters too.
doi.org/10.7551/mitp...

Monash University’s Clinical Psychedelic Lab is recruiting adults in Victoria (Aus) for a clinical trial for Major Depressive Disorder. If your depression isn’t improving with current treatment, you may be eligible. No cost. Travel/time reimbursed. Email for info or to apply: cybin.trial@monash.edu

I am very proud of the special issue on „Structuralism in the Science of Consciousness“ that @andrewyuanlee.bsky.social and I edited for @phimisci.bsky.social. The topic has been stewing in the consciousness community for years, but this SI is the first to bring together different perspectives.

Hands holding a copy of "The Self-Evidencing Agent: Mind, Existence, and Predictive Processing" by Jakob Hohwy on a plain background.

"A masterful examination of what it means to be an ‘agent’ ... Essential reading for anyone interested why they are the way they are." — @anilseth.bsky.social

"The Self-Evidencing Agent" by Jakob @hohwy.bsky.social is available in paperback & #OpenAccess editions: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255389...

Ever wondered how the Dalmatian Dog effect works?

The human brain can quickly learn from a single experience and generalize it to related experiences — an impressive feat so far not matched by AI.

Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com reveals how this works.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Meditation dose: how much is enough and can you have too much of a good thing? with Dr. Sarah Strohmaier Join Sarah Strohmeir as she discusses how much meditation is enough and if you can have too much of a good thing.

Looking forward to my conversation on the @monash-m3cs.bsky.social online seminary series about my #dose #research in #mindfulness #meditation on Feb 12, 12pm AEST. Sign up below (it's free)!
events.humanitix.com/meditation-d...

#philosophy #neuroskyence

No - it's more of a technical term. Probably not very self-evident, in fact :)

The Self-Evidencing Agent What is it to be a human individual, an agent? According to Jakob Hohwy, it is to “self-evidence,” to actively seek out sensory evidence for one&...

"The Self-Evidencing Agent" - my new book - is out now with @mitpress.bsky.social

Can be purchased, or just download the whole thing for free, via the 'Open Access' option.

I'm grateful to @anilseth.bsky.social and Karl Friston for the generous endorsements.

mitpress.mit.edu/978026255389...

Lifting the veil: probing altered visual perception in derealization Abstract. During an acute episode of depersonalization/derealization (DP/DR), people report a complex and idiosyncratic change in their perceptual experien

🚨 New article in #NCONSC

Lifting the veil: probing altered visual perception in derealization
academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...

@anikokusztor.bsky.social
@qualiastructure.bsky.social

#consciousness
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Reality Is a Shared Hallucination—And It’s at Risk of Collapsing, Scientist Claims When that happens, it can lead to some truly disturbing outcomes.

A recent interview with Chris Frith @cdfrith.bsky.social
www.popularmechanics.com/science/a700...

📢Maths in the Brain Workshop 2026 in Melbourne.

We will bring together researchers across Australia with a shared interest in understanding the brain from a quantitative perspective.

This year's keynote is delivered by Professor James Cole, University College London.

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Modeling non-dual awareness via constraint closure: a reinterpretation of groundlessness Abstract. Non-dual awareness (NDA) refers to a shift in consciousness in which the usual distinction between subject and object dissolves, and experience i

Modeling non-dual awareness via constraint closure: a reinterpretation of groundlessness url: academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...

For anyone interested in the mechanisms behind "letting go" in meditation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ndy...

This was a really fun conversation to have, thanks Josh! (www.linkedin.com/in/joshricha/)

Another beautiful work from @ronyhirsch.bsky.social , now with @niccolonegro.bsky.social : they find that contrary to may philosophical stands, public views do not consider consciousness to be neither necessary nor sufficient for moral status! Find this, and many other interesting results, below 👇

An absolute honour 🙏👇

What if pain demands far more than trying to make it stop?

Modern mindfulness gurus often claim that while pain (its sensations) is unavoidable, suffering (our emotional and cognitive responses to it) is optional.

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Sensory sharpening and semantic prediction errors unify competing models of predictive processing in human speech comprehension Speech comprehension relies on predictive mechanisms, but models disagree on whether the brain prioritizes expected or unexpected information. This study shows that sharpening of sensory representatio...

Same sound, different perception: Do expectations change what you hear?👂🧠

We paired faces w topics and played the same ambiguous speech w different faces. The brain sharpened sensory signals toward predictions and showed gated prediction errors at higher levels.

Read @plosbiology.org. Blueprint👇

Advanced meditation is increasingly a critical test case for neuroscience, psychology, phenomenology, philosophy and computational modeling of the mind.

In doing so, it’s pushing us to rethink how we both study and understand our own subjective experience and the processes through which...

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🚨 New paper in @pnas.org to end 2025 with a bang!🚨

Behavioral, experiential, and physiological signatures of mind blanking
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

with Esteban Munoz-Musat, @arthurlecoz.bsky.social @corcorana.bsky.social, Laouen Belloli and Lionel Naccache

Illustration: Ana Yael.

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On biological and artificial consciousness: A case for biological computationalism The rapid advances in the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) have galvanised public and scientific debates over whether artificial systems m…

🎊📜 NEW PAPER 📜🎊

Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?

I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.

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Toward a neuroscience of consciousness using advanced meditation Despite decades of progress in the neuroscience of consciousness, prevailing empirical paradigms remain largely anchored in the study of typical, cont…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

George Deane and Daphne Demekas win the € 20.000,- Computational Phenomenology of Pure Awareness Prize
mpe-project.info/wp-content/u...
for 2025 with this contribution:
osf.io/preprints/ps...