Greetings!
I am a joint PhD candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of São Paulo, Brazil, supervised by Prof. Dr. Osvaldo Frota Pessoa Junior and the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Porto, Portugal, supervised by Dr. Steven Sequeira Gouveia. I am also a visiting Research Fellow at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, hosted by Prof. Dr. Tobias Schlicht and a member of the Active Inference Institute.
I graduated in psychology from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. I hold a specialist degree in neuroscience from the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, and a master's degree in the philosophy (of cognitive science) from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
I am the proud mother of two cats, Floki and Pat Churchland. I am a gamer and a metalhead. I love taking pictures of flowers, watching birds, and going to the beach. In my spare time, I often read physics and sci-fi books.
I am a joint PhD candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of São Paulo, Brazil, supervised by Prof. Dr. Osvaldo Frota Pessoa Junior and the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Porto, Portugal, supervised by Dr. Steven Sequeira Gouveia. I am also a visiting Research Fellow at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, hosted by Prof. Dr. Tobias Schlicht and a member of the Active Inference Institute.
I graduated in psychology from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. I hold a specialist degree in neuroscience from the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, and a master's degree in the philosophy (of cognitive science) from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
I am the proud mother of two cats, Floki and Pat Churchland. I am a gamer and a metalhead. I love taking pictures of flowers, watching birds, and going to the beach. In my spare time, I often read physics and sci-fi books.
Research Background
As a psychologist, I've always been fascinated by different points of view, which I later came to understand as perception and then consciousness.
During my master's studies, I explored the interrelation between a philosophical model of consciousness (Dennett's Multiple Drafts) and the Predictive Processing framework. Throughout my research, I became an illusionist and developed a growing interest in biology. By the end of my master's program, I no longer identified my object of study as consciousness; instead, I realized that what I had been referring to as consciousness was, in fact, attention.
This realization led me to change the focus of my PhD project. Currently, my goal is to redescribe attention in biogenic terms. I aim to design a novel account of attention using the Active Inference framework, which is compatible with both philosophical and empirical explorations.
During my master's studies, I explored the interrelation between a philosophical model of consciousness (Dennett's Multiple Drafts) and the Predictive Processing framework. Throughout my research, I became an illusionist and developed a growing interest in biology. By the end of my master's program, I no longer identified my object of study as consciousness; instead, I realized that what I had been referring to as consciousness was, in fact, attention.
This realization led me to change the focus of my PhD project. Currently, my goal is to redescribe attention in biogenic terms. I aim to design a novel account of attention using the Active Inference framework, which is compatible with both philosophical and empirical explorations.
Research Interests
- Consciousness / Perception
- Attention
- Active Inference
- Neurophysiology
- The Free Energy Principle
- Autopoiesis Theory
- Ecological Psychology
- Neurophilosophy / Synthetic Philosophy
- Cognitive Science
Contact me: [email protected]
Ps.: My full name is Maria Luiza Iennaco de Vasconcelos, but I am signing my work as Maria Luiza Iennaco, so you might see both versions around. My given name is Maria Luiza, but people often call me just Maria.
Ps.: My full name is Maria Luiza Iennaco de Vasconcelos, but I am signing my work as Maria Luiza Iennaco, so you might see both versions around. My given name is Maria Luiza, but people often call me just Maria.