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Cited by 101Embodied and Extended CognitionChild and Animal Learning DevelopmentAction Observation and Synchronization

The felt presence of other minds: predictive processing, counterfactual predictions, and mentalising in autism

Palmer, Colin J., Seth, Anil K., Hohwy, Jakob·2015·Consciousness and Cognition
DOI 10.1016/j.concog.2015.04.007
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Abstract

The mental states of other people are components of the external world that modulate the activity of our sensory epithelia. Recent probabilistic frameworks that cast perception as unconscious inference on the external causes of sensory input can thus be expanded to enfold the brain's representation of others' mental states. This paper examines this subject in the context of the debate concerning the extent to which we have perceptual awareness of other minds. In particular, we suggest that the notion of perceptual presence helps to refine this debate: are others' mental states experienced as veridical qualities of the perceptual world around us? This experiential aspect of social cognition may be central to conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, where representations of others' mental states seem to be selectively compromised. Importantly, recent work ties perceptual presence to the counterfactual predictions of hierarchical generative models that are suggested to perform unconscious inference in the brain. This enables a characterisation of mental state representations in terms of their associated counterfactual predictions, allowing a distinction between spontaneous and explicit forms of mentalising within the framework of predictive processing. This leads to a hypothesis that social cognition in autism spectrum disorder is characterised by a diminished set of counterfactual predictions and the reduced perceptual presence of others' mental states.

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  • Impairments in the use of non-explicit prior information may lead to difficulties in anticipating the actions of others based on their goal or movement trajectory or mental states.

    “Impairments in the use of non-explicit prior information may lead to difficulties in anticipating the actions of others based on their goal or movement trajectory (Ganglmayer et al., 2020) or mental states (Palmer et al., 2015).”

    From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Palmer et al., 2015

  • Predictive coding may also underlie mentalizing, as individuals with ASD are impaired in using social information to predict others' actions.

    “Predictive coding may also underlie mentalizing (Palmer et al., 2015), as individuals with ASD are impaired in using social information to predict others’ actions (von der Luhe et al., 2016).”

    From The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder (2018) · cites this paper as Palmer et al., 2015

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Authors
Palmer, C. J., Seth, A. K., & Hohwy, J.
Affiliations
  • Monash University (AU)
  • University of Sussex (GB)
Corresponding author
Palmer, Colin J.
ORCID
Venue
Consciousness and Cognition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2015-11
Volume
36
Pages
376-389
ISSN
1053-8100 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.concog.2015.04.007
OpenAlex
W2091867346
Semantic Scholar
7163cbc1db7009fa5df62fb94bf29d6ab83f903d
Cited by
101
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 2
FWCI
1.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Consciousness and Cognition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Australian Research Council Discovery (DP1311336)
  • Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT100100322)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, predictive processing, counterfactual prediction, mentalization, theory of mind, perceptual presence, other minds, hierarchical generative models, unconscious inference, social cognition
MeSH terms
Autism Spectrum Disorder, Humans, Social Perception, Thinking, Theory of Mind

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