Many cognitive neuroscientists agree on the idea that the brain is organized to predict the world. Basic functions like perception and action, working memory and attention, consciousness and social cognition, imagination and creativity all work in the brain according to principles of probabilistic inference and prediction-error minimization. Humans make idiosyncratic predictions based on prior experience, but such predictions are systematically influenced by culture. Music, art, literature, and religion are examples of tools that align predictions across members of a society, a process, which is crucial for collective action and social cohesion.
Aarhus Institute for Advanced Studies (AIAS) together with the Religion, Cognition and Culture Research Unit, Interacting Minds Centre, Center for Music in the Brain at AU and University of Amsterdam host this third international Worlding the Brain conference (see the 2016 and 2017conferences) in order to bring together researchers from the humanities, social sciences, and the brain sciences to reflect on how the predictive brain model can improve our understanding of the process of enculturation.