•  846
    Self in Autism: A Predictive Perspective
    Dissertation, Monash University. 2021.
    In this thesis, I investigated the self in autism using tools from philosophy and experimental cognitive science. Our self-representation shapes how we act in the world, and the feedback we receive in turn shapes how we represent ourselves. In the predictive processing framework I use, autism is characterised by differences in modelling or predicting the world under uncertainty which impacts both perception and action. Findings from the thesis show that individuals with more autistic traits are …Read more
  •  52
    The effect of uncertainty on prediction error in the action perception loop
    with Rebecca P. Lawson, Sharna Jamadar, and Jakob Hohwy
    Cognition 210 (C): 104598. 2021.
    Among all their sensations, agents need to distinguish between those caused by themselves and those caused by external causes. The ability to infer agency is particularly challenging under conditions of uncertainty. Within the predictive processing framework, this should happen through active control of prediction error that closes the action-perception loop. Here we use a novel, temporally-sensitive, behavioural proxy for prediction error to show that it is minimised most quickly when volatilit…Read more
  •  26
    Adaptive behaviour and predictive processing accounts of autism
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 42. 2019.
    Many autistic behaviours can rightly be classified as adaptive, but why these behaviours differ from adaptive neurotypical behaviours in the same environment requires explanation. I argue that predictive processing accounts best explain why autistic people engage different adaptive responses to the environment and, further, account for evidence left unexplained by the social motivation theory.
  •  551
    The hard problem of ‘educational neuroscience’
    with Jared C. Horvath and Jason M. Lodge
    Trends in Neuroscience and Education 6 204-210. 2017.
    Differing worldviews give interdisciplinary work value. However, these same differences are the primary hurdle to productive communication between disciplines. Here, we argue that philosophical issues of metaphysics and epistemology subserve many of the differences in language, methods and motivation that plague interdisciplinary fields like educational neuroscience. Researchers attempting interdisciplinary work may be unaware that issues of philosophy are intimately tied to the way research is …Read more
  •  48
    Engaging Reading
    Teaching Philosophy 37 (1): 37-55. 2014.
    This paper describes a novel approach to teaching introductory-level students how to engage with philosophical texts, developed in the context of a philosophy of art course. We aimed to enhance students’ motivation to read philosophy well by cultivating habits of active reading. To this end we created a structured set of three assignments: instructor created digitally annotated reading assignments, a student digital annotation assignment, and required student participation in a collective Google…Read more