Dr. Nithin George at Synapsoirée 2.0 by Parul University!
About Dr. Nithin George
Dr. Nithin George is a cognitive scientist at Ahmedabad University on perception, prediction, and the computational basis of the mind. He organised a workshop on ‘Bayesian brain, implications for neurodiversity’ as part of Parul University Synapsoirée 2.0.
Perception as controlled hallucination
The idea, from neuroscientist Anil Seth, of perception as a controlled hallucination that the brain is not merely receiving the world but actively predicting it and adjusting the senses to correct those predictions has been introduced by Dr. Nithin George. In this Bayesian perspective, what we feel is the brain’s educated guess, continually refined by prediction error. He illustrated with common examples the extent to which much of what we perceive is top-down expectation rather than bottom-up input, which can transform many psychological phenomena into differences in the weighting of prediction. If you wish to build your career in this domain, explore psychology programs at Parul University, including BA in Psychology, an MA in Clinical Psychology, an MA in Counseling Psychology, and an MA in Industrial Psychology, and get to work with leading mental health experts nationally and internationally!
Neurodiversity as a prediction style
From this perspective, he proposed a taxonomy that recognises not just that autism and ADHD, for example, are deficits, but also that they are different ways to balance prediction and incoming evidence, or, as another way to say it, that these traits lie on a continuum. It’s a research platform, not a diagnostic tool, he cautioned, and it doesn’t take the place of a person’s actual needs. His bigger message was that neurodiversity is a social project too: that is, it is what society will allow it to be.
