Abstract
Abstract
The avatar is a solution to the problem of controlling a complex, fragile, precariously integrated set of interacting subsystems, whose nature is opaque to introspection. These subsystems cannot be directly regulated. The avatar serves as a simple, unified regulatory proxy for the complex distributed regulatory system. Feelings of unity, persistence, and ownership of experience arise in the process of basic bodily regulation anchored by the avatar. Daniel Dennett proposed that the self is a ‘centre of narrative gravity’ a linguistic artefact that serves a regulatory role. I propose that feelings of unity and persistence arise at a lower level: interoceptive regulation. Emotional and narrative processes are layered over interoceptive and inherit the properties of the avatar. The elusiveness of the self in introspection, the evanescence of the feeling of mineness, and the lack of a straightforward neural correlate for self awareness are explained by this idea.
Publisher
Oxford University PressOxford