Shawn Prest
@shawnprest.bsky.social
Researcher at the intersection of meditation, consciousness, perception and active inference at the Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies (Monash University).
Web: shawnprest.com
Web: shawnprest.com
Pinned
Shawn Prest
@shawnprest.bsky.social
· Feb 26
New preprint: Modelling meditative deconstruction via letting go! 🧘
Model shows how the phenomenology of defabrication naturally emerges from the dynamics of hierarchical active inference.
I take a computational phenomenology approach, with a model that is in-silico and formalised.🧵
Model shows how the phenomenology of defabrication naturally emerges from the dynamics of hierarchical active inference.
I take a computational phenomenology approach, with a model that is in-silico and formalised.🧵
Reposted by Shawn Prest
A lovely Christmas present: this paper led by Henrik Röhr is now out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/YCJX8T...
In this paper, we predict on a single-trial level whether someone is practising a self-boundary dissolution meditation practice on the basis of their EEG data
In this paper, we predict on a single-trial level whether someone is practising a self-boundary dissolution meditation practice on the basis of their EEG data
Decoding the Self: Single‐Trial Prediction of Self‐Boundary Meditation States From Magnetoencephalography Recordings
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onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM
A lovely Christmas present: this paper led by Henrik Röhr is now out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/YCJX8T...
In this paper, we predict on a single-trial level whether someone is practising a self-boundary dissolution meditation practice on the basis of their EEG data
In this paper, we predict on a single-trial level whether someone is practising a self-boundary dissolution meditation practice on the basis of their EEG data
Reposted by Shawn Prest
I'm biased, but I think Neuromatch has done a lot of good in helping make computational science education accessible. Please consider donating to help us continue!
Today is #GivingTuesday! Join us in helping to make computational science education accessible to everyone, everywhere!
Since, 2021, Neuromatch Academy and Climatematch Academy have supported nearly 14,000 learners from 135 countries.
Your support makes this possible.
neuromatch.io/donate/
Since, 2021, Neuromatch Academy and Climatematch Academy have supported nearly 14,000 learners from 135 countries.
Your support makes this possible.
neuromatch.io/donate/
December 2, 2025 at 8:25 PM
I'm biased, but I think Neuromatch has done a lot of good in helping make computational science education accessible. Please consider donating to help us continue!
Reposted by Shawn Prest
Very excited to announce that our new paper “Are Dreams Narrative Experiences? How Assumptions About Fictional Narratives Shape Debates on Dream Experiences” is officially published in Topoi.
I am truly honoured to have collaborated with my supervisor, Jennifer Windt, on this work.
rdcu.be/eSXvP
I am truly honoured to have collaborated with my supervisor, Jennifer Windt, on this work.
rdcu.be/eSXvP
Are Dreams Narrative Experiences? How Assumptions About Fictional Narratives Shape Debates on Dream Experiences
rdcu.be
December 4, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Very excited to announce that our new paper “Are Dreams Narrative Experiences? How Assumptions About Fictional Narratives Shape Debates on Dream Experiences” is officially published in Topoi.
I am truly honoured to have collaborated with my supervisor, Jennifer Windt, on this work.
rdcu.be/eSXvP
I am truly honoured to have collaborated with my supervisor, Jennifer Windt, on this work.
rdcu.be/eSXvP
Hey all,
Thomas Metzinger has a new book out, have a look: www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0FZ...
@metzinger.bsky.social
Thomas Metzinger has a new book out, have a look: www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0FZ...
@metzinger.bsky.social
December 1, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Hey all,
Thomas Metzinger has a new book out, have a look: www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0FZ...
@metzinger.bsky.social
Thomas Metzinger has a new book out, have a look: www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0FZ...
@metzinger.bsky.social
Excited for the Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ASPP) 2025 Conference next week in Melbourne 24-25 Nov.
I'll be presenting posters on multi-dimensional selfing and affective valence with active inference.
sites.google.com/monash.edu/a...
I'll be presenting posters on multi-dimensional selfing and affective valence with active inference.
sites.google.com/monash.edu/a...
ASPP 2025 Melbourne
Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology 2025 Conference
Melbourne, November 24th - 25th, 2025
sites.google.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Excited for the Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ASPP) 2025 Conference next week in Melbourne 24-25 Nov.
I'll be presenting posters on multi-dimensional selfing and affective valence with active inference.
sites.google.com/monash.edu/a...
I'll be presenting posters on multi-dimensional selfing and affective valence with active inference.
sites.google.com/monash.edu/a...
Reposted by Shawn Prest
Still time to register for the 2025 Conference of the Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology, in-person in Melbourne Nov 24-25!
Check details and fab keynotes and program on the site👇
#philosophy #neuroskyence
sites.google.com/monash.edu/a...
Check details and fab keynotes and program on the site👇
#philosophy #neuroskyence
sites.google.com/monash.edu/a...
ASPP 2025 Melbourne
Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology 2025 Conference
Melbourne, November 24th - 25th, 2025
sites.google.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Still time to register for the 2025 Conference of the Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology, in-person in Melbourne Nov 24-25!
Check details and fab keynotes and program on the site👇
#philosophy #neuroskyence
sites.google.com/monash.edu/a...
Check details and fab keynotes and program on the site👇
#philosophy #neuroskyence
sites.google.com/monash.edu/a...
Consider participating in this study by if you're starting to meditate (<4 months) and from Australia, New Zealand, UK, or USA!
psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/CSC/research...
psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/CSC/research...
Tracking meditation: A longitudinal study
Tracking meditation: A longitudinal study
psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au
November 17, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Consider participating in this study by if you're starting to meditate (<4 months) and from Australia, New Zealand, UK, or USA!
psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/CSC/research...
psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/CSC/research...
In Boston, happy to be visiting the Meditation Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
@matthewsacchet.bsky.social
#contemplativescience
@matthewsacchet.bsky.social
#contemplativescience
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
November 13, 2025 at 2:17 PM
In Boston, happy to be visiting the Meditation Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
@matthewsacchet.bsky.social
#contemplativescience
@matthewsacchet.bsky.social
#contemplativescience
Reposted by Shawn Prest
How can lived experience be mathematically formalized, and what might computational models reveal about the depths of consciousness during advanced meditation?
As research on advanced meditation enters a new era, a powerful question emerges: Can we mathematically model meditative experience ...
As research on advanced meditation enters a new era, a powerful question emerges: Can we mathematically model meditative experience ...
June 24, 2025 at 10:03 AM
How can lived experience be mathematically formalized, and what might computational models reveal about the depths of consciousness during advanced meditation?
As research on advanced meditation enters a new era, a powerful question emerges: Can we mathematically model meditative experience ...
As research on advanced meditation enters a new era, a powerful question emerges: Can we mathematically model meditative experience ...
If you weren't aware and are interested in active inference and predictive processing, check out the Active Inference Symposium @actinfinstitute.bsky.social (just started).
It's free, online, and has lots of great talks lined up, as well as workshops on modelling: coda.io/d/Applied-Ac...
It's free, online, and has lots of great talks lined up, as well as workshops on modelling: coda.io/d/Applied-Ac...
coda.io
November 12, 2025 at 2:51 PM
If you weren't aware and are interested in active inference and predictive processing, check out the Active Inference Symposium @actinfinstitute.bsky.social (just started).
It's free, online, and has lots of great talks lined up, as well as workshops on modelling: coda.io/d/Applied-Ac...
It's free, online, and has lots of great talks lined up, as well as workshops on modelling: coda.io/d/Applied-Ac...
Looking forward to visiting the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia on Monday and having great conversations there! @mclsheehy.bsky.social @monash-m3cs.bsky.social csc.virginia.edu
November 9, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Looking forward to visiting the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia on Monday and having great conversations there! @mclsheehy.bsky.social @monash-m3cs.bsky.social csc.virginia.edu
Today is poster day #2 at @iscr.bsky.social
here in Chapel Hill. I'll be sharing work on how deep meditative experience challenges existing computational accounts of affective valence. Come by and pepper me with questions, 4:30-6pm :)
#ISCR2025
here in Chapel Hill. I'll be sharing work on how deep meditative experience challenges existing computational accounts of affective valence. Come by and pepper me with questions, 4:30-6pm :)
#ISCR2025
November 5, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Today is poster day #2 at @iscr.bsky.social
here in Chapel Hill. I'll be sharing work on how deep meditative experience challenges existing computational accounts of affective valence. Come by and pepper me with questions, 4:30-6pm :)
#ISCR2025
here in Chapel Hill. I'll be sharing work on how deep meditative experience challenges existing computational accounts of affective valence. Come by and pepper me with questions, 4:30-6pm :)
#ISCR2025
If attending @iscr.bsky.social, come by my poster at 4:30pm tomorrow.
I'll present work on clarifying selfing with active inference. This is collaborative work with @kevinberryman.bsky.social, @rubenlaukkonen.bsky.social, @matthewsacchet.bsky.social, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana and Yair Dor-Ziderman.
I'll present work on clarifying selfing with active inference. This is collaborative work with @kevinberryman.bsky.social, @rubenlaukkonen.bsky.social, @matthewsacchet.bsky.social, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana and Yair Dor-Ziderman.
November 4, 2025 at 3:47 AM
If attending @iscr.bsky.social, come by my poster at 4:30pm tomorrow.
I'll present work on clarifying selfing with active inference. This is collaborative work with @kevinberryman.bsky.social, @rubenlaukkonen.bsky.social, @matthewsacchet.bsky.social, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana and Yair Dor-Ziderman.
I'll present work on clarifying selfing with active inference. This is collaborative work with @kevinberryman.bsky.social, @rubenlaukkonen.bsky.social, @matthewsacchet.bsky.social, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana and Yair Dor-Ziderman.
I'll be at the International Society for Contemplative Research 2025 Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina next week.
Looking forward to it and will be on a great panel on Tuesday at 1:30pm with @matthewsacchet.bsky.social, Nicco Reggente, Winson Yang and David Zarka.
@iscr.bsky.social
#ISCR
Looking forward to it and will be on a great panel on Tuesday at 1:30pm with @matthewsacchet.bsky.social, Nicco Reggente, Winson Yang and David Zarka.
@iscr.bsky.social
#ISCR
November 1, 2025 at 7:59 PM
I'll be at the International Society for Contemplative Research 2025 Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina next week.
Looking forward to it and will be on a great panel on Tuesday at 1:30pm with @matthewsacchet.bsky.social, Nicco Reggente, Winson Yang and David Zarka.
@iscr.bsky.social
#ISCR
Looking forward to it and will be on a great panel on Tuesday at 1:30pm with @matthewsacchet.bsky.social, Nicco Reggente, Winson Yang and David Zarka.
@iscr.bsky.social
#ISCR
Reposted by Shawn Prest
👇 have a look at the program of this year's ISPSM conference, it's online and free.
#philmind #philsci #consci
#philmind #philsci #consci
We are very excited to share the conference schedule and book of abstracts for this year’s ISPSM! 💫
Link to schedule: tiny.cc/ISPSM2025sch...
Link to book of abstracts: tiny.cc/ISPSM2025boo...
#philmind #philsky
Link to schedule: tiny.cc/ISPSM2025sch...
Link to book of abstracts: tiny.cc/ISPSM2025boo...
#philmind #philsky
Timetables to share
tiny.cc
August 3, 2025 at 7:54 AM
I'm presenting my work on affective valence, meditative experience and active inference this Sunday 9:30am GMT at the 3rd Annual Web Conference of the International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind: www.ispsmind.com/internationa...
Come by!
Come by!
October 21, 2025 at 3:52 AM
I'm presenting my work on affective valence, meditative experience and active inference this Sunday 9:30am GMT at the 3rd Annual Web Conference of the International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind: www.ispsmind.com/internationa...
Come by!
Come by!
Reposted by Shawn Prest
Advanced meditation ushers in incredible new possibilities for the science of consciousness.
In the first-ever fMRI study of Extended Cessation (EC), for which we’ve just preprinted, my colleagues and I examine this advanced meditative event—where consciousness is deliberately switched off and...
In the first-ever fMRI study of Extended Cessation (EC), for which we’ve just preprinted, my colleagues and I examine this advanced meditative event—where consciousness is deliberately switched off and...
September 23, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Advanced meditation ushers in incredible new possibilities for the science of consciousness.
In the first-ever fMRI study of Extended Cessation (EC), for which we’ve just preprinted, my colleagues and I examine this advanced meditative event—where consciousness is deliberately switched off and...
In the first-ever fMRI study of Extended Cessation (EC), for which we’ve just preprinted, my colleagues and I examine this advanced meditative event—where consciousness is deliberately switched off and...
Reposted by Shawn Prest
⏰ 📣
Last weeks to apply for the postdoc position on multisensory integration and self-body perception in Marseille !!
Last weeks to apply for the postdoc position on multisensory integration and self-body perception in Marseille !!
📣 Open PhD & Postdoc Positions 📣
More info here: mariechancel.com/open-positio... or by contacting me directly !
More info here: mariechancel.com/open-positio... or by contacting me directly !
Open positions – Dr. Marie Chancel
mariechancel.com
September 2, 2025 at 10:02 AM
⏰ 📣
Last weeks to apply for the postdoc position on multisensory integration and self-body perception in Marseille !!
Last weeks to apply for the postdoc position on multisensory integration and self-body perception in Marseille !!
Reposted by Shawn Prest
Now on Antoine Lutz on the phenomenology of meditation and its neural correlates in the concurrent sessions
July 8, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Now on Antoine Lutz on the phenomenology of meditation and its neural correlates in the concurrent sessions
I'll be presenting work today on a poster at @assc28.bsky.social on how deep meditative experience challenges challeges predominant computational views of affective valence. At 12:30pm, come by, booth 179! #assc28
July 8, 2025 at 5:31 AM
I'll be presenting work today on a poster at @assc28.bsky.social on how deep meditative experience challenges challeges predominant computational views of affective valence. At 12:30pm, come by, booth 179! #assc28
Reposted by Shawn Prest
Heading to my very first ASSC! Quite excited to present my work, supervised by @dsotob.bsky.social on unconscious working memory in the concurrent session at Studio Theatre on Wednesday at 15:30! Please come drop by! : ) @assc28.bsky.social #ASSC28
July 4, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Heading to my very first ASSC! Quite excited to present my work, supervised by @dsotob.bsky.social on unconscious working memory in the concurrent session at Studio Theatre on Wednesday at 15:30! Please come drop by! : ) @assc28.bsky.social #ASSC28
Enjoying the atmosphere at @assc28.bsky.social here in Crete! It's great to be around a lot of researches focused on our actual experience. Also looking forward to Edmundo Lopez-Sola's poster coming up and @matthewsacchet.bsky.social 's talk this afternoon on advanced meditation. :) #assc28
July 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Enjoying the atmosphere at @assc28.bsky.social here in Crete! It's great to be around a lot of researches focused on our actual experience. Also looking forward to Edmundo Lopez-Sola's poster coming up and @matthewsacchet.bsky.social 's talk this afternoon on advanced meditation. :) #assc28
Reposted by Shawn Prest
5 years since our first pilot, and 25,000 participants later, I'm super happy this work with Makaela Nartker, @chazfirestone.bsky.social and Howard Egeth on inattentional blindness is now out in eLife! A little 🧵 of what we found... 1/12 elifesciences.org/articles/100...
Sensitivity to visual features in inattentional blindness
As a group, inattentionally blind participants can successfully report the location, color, and shape of stimuli they deny noticing, and exhibit a systematic bias to report not noticing.
elifesciences.org
May 20, 2025 at 1:16 PM
5 years since our first pilot, and 25,000 participants later, I'm super happy this work with Makaela Nartker, @chazfirestone.bsky.social and Howard Egeth on inattentional blindness is now out in eLife! A little 🧵 of what we found... 1/12 elifesciences.org/articles/100...
Reposted by Shawn Prest
FYI: free link to a publication led by Yair Dor-Ziderman in Aviva Berkovich-Ohana's lab. We provided MEG evidence supporting the hypothesis that the brains of experienced meditators exhibit reduced defensiveness toward mortality compared to those of controls.
academic.oup.com/nc/article-a...
academic.oup.com/nc/article-a...
Training the embodied self in its impermanence: meditators evidence neurophysiological markers of death acceptance
AbstractBackground. Human predictive capacity underlies its adaptive strength but also the potential for existential terror. Grounded in the predictive pro
academic.oup.com
April 23, 2025 at 4:43 PM
FYI: free link to a publication led by Yair Dor-Ziderman in Aviva Berkovich-Ohana's lab. We provided MEG evidence supporting the hypothesis that the brains of experienced meditators exhibit reduced defensiveness toward mortality compared to those of controls.
academic.oup.com/nc/article-a...
academic.oup.com/nc/article-a...