{
  "abstract": "How does the brain transform a chaotic stream of sensory signals into a stable, shared experience of reality? This theoretical paper proposes that the brain does not passively receive the world, but actively projects it – it continuously generates predictions about sensory inputs and updates its internal model when predictions fail, a process formally described by the free energy principle and active inference. We argue that this process can be understood through an analogy with quantum decoherence – the collapse of multiple possibilities into a single actuality. By integrating insights from this analogy with active inference, we show how the brain resolves sensory uncertainty into a coherent projection of reality. A central question we address is whether projecting reality changes it. We argue that it does: a strong, coherent projection reduces uncertainty, while a weak or fragmented one amplifies prediction errors, and a distorted one – diverging from social consensus – leads to alternative realities that resist correction. This projection operates in discrete, rhythmic cycles governed by brain waves and is fine-tuned by neurochemicals that determine how much we “trust” our predictions versus new sensory data. The Default Mode Network – the brain’s inner “sea” of self-awareness, memories, and context – acts as a central hub that integrates and updates these projections. Crucially, individual projections are stabilized into a shared, “solid” reality through social interaction, language, and culture – a process we call collective active inference. Within this framework, psychiatric disorders are understood as disorders of projection – distortions in how the brain generates and stabilizes its model of reality. This perspective reverses the traditional explanatory gradient: psychopathology is not merely a sensory or chemical problem, but a fundamental disruption of the brain’s capacity to project a coherent world. This unifying framework offers a new foundation for both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions, grounding them in a common computational logic.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Psychiatric Clinic, University Hospital for Active Treatment “Prof. Dr. Stoyan Kirkovich”, Trakia University",
    "Department of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychology, Government University “Prof d-r Asen Zlatarov”",
    "Medical Faculty, Trakia University"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Panov G."
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Panova P."
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ex45t0a9rjhfv.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1815025",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13713289",
  "id": "ex45t0a9rjhfv",
  "issns": [
    "1664-0640"
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  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1815025/full",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Hypothesis and Theory"
    ],
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      "openalex",
      "2805|Embodied and Extended Cognition"
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  "openalex": "W7221824179",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1815025/pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13713289",
  "pmid": "42952554",
  "published": "2026-10-14",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ex45t0a9rjhfv.ris",
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      "native_id": "10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1815025",
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      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1815025/full"
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1815025"
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  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2805|Embodied and Extended Cognition",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Projecting the real through active inference: a unified model of reality construction from neuronal dynamics to social consensus a neuroscientific framework for psychopathology",
  "title_text": "Projecting the real through active inference: a unified model of reality construction from neuronal dynamics to social consensus a neuroscientific framework for psychopathology",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:20:59Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ex45t0a9rjhfv",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Psychiatry",
  "versions": []
}