Foreign thinker
Anil Seth
Anil SethCognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy of MindBritish
We don't perceive the world as it is, but as we need it to be for survival.
Life and Thought
Anil Seth (born 1972) is a neuroscientist and Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex in the UK. He is internationally renowned for his research on the neural basis of consciousness and for proposing the theory of 'controlled hallucination' in human perception.
Anil Seth was born in England in 1972. He received his undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and his PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience from the University of Sussex. He is currently Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience and Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex.
The main focus of Anil Seth's research is the problem of consciousness, visual perception, and self-awareness. Inspired by predictive processing approaches, he views human perception as a kind of 'controlled hallucination'; meaning the brain reconstructs the external world based on its own inferences and prior predictions, with sensory data merely correcting these predictions.
His bestselling book, 'Being You: A New Science of Consciousness' (2021), explores how lived experience, consciousness, and personal identity are formed in the brain. His accessible and scientific works and lectures have played a significant role in expanding both public and specialist understanding of the nature of the mind and conscious experiences.
