Combining ultra-high field 7 Tesla fMRI and computational models to investigate the neural basis of conscious awareness

Predictive processing models of perception and cognition hold that the brain generates
and updates an internal model of the world through feedforward and feedback
processes. The introduction of ultra-high field 7 Tesla (T) functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) allows a non-invasive window onto cortical layers
underpinning implementations of predictive processing. In tandem, computational
higher-order accounts of conscious awareness propose that abstract, prefrontal
representations deep in a perceptual-cognitive hierarchy support perceptual
awareness. This PhD project pursues a novel interdisciplinary combination of both
approaches to advance our understanding of the neural and computational basis of
human conscious awareness.