scholarly journals Is the Free-Energy Principle a Formal Theory of Semantics? From Variational Density Dynamics to Neural and Phenotypic Representations

Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell J. D. Ramstead ◽  
Karl J. Friston ◽  
Inês Hipólito
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Formal Theory ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Explanatory Role ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Internal States

The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) to assess whether the construct of neural representations plays an explanatory role under the variational free-energy principle and its corollary process theory, active inference; and (2) if so, to assess which philosophical stance—in relation to the ontological and epistemological status of representations—is most appropriate. We focus on non-realist (deflationary and fictionalist-instrumentalist) approaches. We consider a deflationary account of mental representation, according to which the explanatorily relevant contents of neural representations are mathematical, rather than cognitive, and a fictionalist or instrumentalist account, according to which representations are scientifically useful fictions that serve explanatory (and other) aims. After reviewing the free-energy principle and active inference, we argue that the model of adaptive phenotypes under the free-energy principle can be used to furnish a formal semantics, enabling us to assign semantic content to specific phenotypic states (the internal states of a Markovian system that exists far from equilibrium). We propose a modified fictionalist account—an organism-centered fictionalism or instrumentalism. We argue that, under the free-energy principle, pursuing even a deflationary account of the content of neural representations licenses the appeal to the kind of semantic content involved in the ‘aboutness’ or intentionality of cognitive systems; our position is thus coherent with, but rests on distinct assumptions from, the realist position. We argue that the free-energy principle thereby explains the aboutness or intentionality in living systems and hence their capacity to parse their sensory stream using an ontology or set of semantic factors.

scholarly journals Free Energy Principle in Human Postural Control System: Skin Stretch Feedback Reduces the Entropy

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilwon Hur ◽  
Yi-Tsen Pan ◽  
Christian DeBuys
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Control System ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Standing Balance ◽  
Postural Control System ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Sensory Deficits ◽  
Internal States ◽  
Skin Stretch

AbstractHuman upright standing involves an integration of multiple sensory inputs such as vision, vestibular and somatosensory systems. It has been known that sensory deficits worsen the standing balance. However, how the modulation of sensory information contributes to postural stabilization still remains an open question for researchers. The purpose of this work was to formulate the human standing postural control system in the framework of the free-energy principle, and to investigate the efficacy of the skin stretch feedback in enhancing the human standing balance. Previously, we have shown that sensory augmentation by skin stretch feedback at the fingertip could modulate the standing balance of the people with simulated sensory deficits. In this study, subjects underwent ten 30-second trials of quiet standing balance with and without skin stretch feedback. Visual and vestibular sensory deficits were simulated by having each subject close their eyes and tilt their head back. We found that sensory augmentation by velocity-based skin stretch feedback at the fingertip reduced the entropy of the standing postural sway of the people with simulated sensory deficits. This result aligns with the framework of the free energy principle which states that a self-organizing biological system at its equilibrium state tries to minimize its free energy either by updating the internal state or by correcting body movement with appropriate actions. The velocity-based skin stretch feedback at the fingertip may increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensory signals, which in turn enhances the accuracy of the internal states in the central nervous system. With more accurate internal states, the human postural control system can further adjust the standing posture to minimize the entropy, and thus the free energy.

scholarly journals ‘Through others we become ourselves’: The dialectics of predictive coding and active inference

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris Bolis ◽  
Leonhard Schilbach
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Other Minds ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Multiscale Dynamics ◽  
Cultural Processes

Thinking Through Other Minds (TTOM) creatively situates the free energy principle within real-life cultural processes, thereby enriching both sociocultural theories and Bayesian accounts of cognition. Here, shifting the attention from thinking to becoming, we suggest complementing such an account by focusing on the empirical, computational and conceptual investigation of the multiscale dynamics of social interaction.

scholarly journals Natural language syntax complies with the free-energy principle

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliot Murphy ◽  
Emma Holmes ◽  
Karl Friston
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Speech Segmentation ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Theoretical Syntax ◽  
Natural Language Syntax

Natural language syntax yields an unbounded array of hierarchically structured expressions. We claim that these are used in the service of active inference in accord with the free-energy principle (FEP). While conceptual advances alongside modelling and simulation work have attempted to connect speech segmentation and linguistic communication with the FEP, we extend this program to the underlying computations responsible for generating elementary syntactic objects. We argue that recently proposed principles of economy in language design—such as “minimal search” and “least effort” criteria from theoretical syntax—adhere to the FEP. This permits a greater degree of explanatory power to the FEP—with respect to higher language functions—and presents linguists with a grounding in first principles of notions pertaining to computability. More generally, we explore the possibility of migrating certain topics in linguistics over to the domain of fields that investigate the FEP, such as complex polysemy. We aim to align concerns of linguists with the normative model for organic self-organisation associated with the FEP, marshalling evidence from theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics to ground core principles of efficient syntactic computation within active inference.

scholarly journals Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) Implemented: Towards Reverse Engineering Consciousness with the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Safron
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Reference Frames ◽  
Phenomenal Consciousness ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Perceptual Inference ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
World Modeling ◽  
Modeling Theory

Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) is a synthetic model that attempts to unify theories of consciousness within the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference framework, with particular emphasis on Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT). IWMT further suggests predictive processing in sensory hierarchies may be well-modeled as (folded, sparse, partially disentangled) variational autoencoders, with beliefs discretely-updated via the formation of synchronous complexes—as self-organizing harmonic modes (SOHMs)—potentially entailing maximal a posteriori (MAP) estimation via turbo coding. In this account, alpha-synchronized SOHMs across posterior cortices may constitute the kinds of maximal complexes described by IIT, as well as samples (or MAP estimates) from multimodal shared latent space, organized according to egocentric reference frames, entailing phenomenal consciousness as mid-level perceptual inference. When these posterior SOHMs couple with frontal complexes, this may enable various forms of conscious access as a kind of mental act(ive inference), affording higher order cognition/control, including the kinds of attentional/intentional processing and reportability described by GNWT. Across this autoencoding heterarchy, intermediate-level beliefs may be organized into spatiotemporal trajectories by the entorhinal/hippocampal system, so affording episodic memory, counterfactual imaginings, and planning.

scholarly journals Combining Active Inference and Hierarchical Predictive Coding: A Tutorial Introduction and Case Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beren Millidge
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Perceptual Model

This paper combines the active inference formulation of action (Friston, 2009) with hierarchical predictive coding models (Friston, 2003) to provide a proof-of-concept implementation of an active inference agent able to solve a common reinforcement learning baseline -- the cart-pole environment in OpenAI gym. It demonstrates empirically that predictive coding and active inference approaches can be successfully scaled up to tasks more challenging than the mountain car (Friston 2009, 2012). We show that hierarchical predictive coding models can be learned from scratch during the task, and can successfully drive action selection via active inference. To our knowledge, it is the first implemented active inference agent to combine active inference with a hierarchical predictive coding perceptual model. We also provide a tutorial walk-through of the free-energy principle, hierarchical predictive coding, and active inference, including an in-depth derivation of our agent.

Social Active Inference

2021 ◽  
pp. 58-72
Author(s):  
El Hassan Bezzazi
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Dynamic Logic ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
Optimal Decision ◽  
Embodied Perception ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle

The free energy principle and its corollary, active inference, were introduced by Karl Friston as an explanation embodied perception and action in neuroscience, and since, it has been used to address many other issues in different fields mainly related to cognitive science like learning, optimal decision, or interpersonal inference. Negotiation is a process where each negotiator has conflicting motivation is aiming to maximize his utility and where agreement is reached when the opposing interests are balanced. The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate how the free energy principle might be used through active inference in modeling a negotiation process based on an example of real life. The work is an attempt to bring together a dynamic logic framework with appropriate operators to consider motivation among agents on one hand and the active inference framework on the other hand.

scholarly journals “Through others we become ourselves”: The dialectics of predictive coding and active inference

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris Bolis ◽  
Leonhard Schilbach
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Other Minds ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Multiscale Dynamics ◽  
Cultural Processes

Abstract Thinking through other minds creatively situates the free-energy principle within real-life cultural processes, thereby enriching both sociocultural theories and Bayesian accounts of cognition. Here, shifting the attention from thinking-through to becoming-with, we suggest complementing such an account by focusing on the empirical, computational, and conceptual investigation of the multiscale dynamics of social interaction.

scholarly journals A proposal for deflating deflationary accounts of free will; consciousness and the readiness to act

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Safron
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Readiness Potentials ◽  
Physical Laws

Is free will possible in a world governed by physical laws? How can mental states function as causes? What insights can be gained from studying integrative models of brains and minds? Here I briefly describe how the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference framework may help to illuminate the nature of volition, with particular focus on novel explanations for Libet phenomena, wherein consciousness may enter causal streams leading up to readiness potentials and subsequent actions.

scholarly journals Free Energy Principle in Human Postural Control System: Skin Stretch Feedback Reduces the Entropy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilwon Hur ◽  
Yi-Tsen Pan ◽  
Christian DeBuys
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Control System ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Standing Balance ◽  
Postural Control System ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Sensory Deficits ◽  
Internal States ◽  
Skin Stretch

ABSTRACTHuman upright standing involves an integration of multiple sensory inputs such as vision, vestibular and somatosensory systems. It has been known that sensory deficits worsen the standing balance. However, how the modulation of sensory information contributes to postural stabilization still remains an open question for researchers. The purpose of this work was to formulate the human standing postural control system in the framework of the free-energy principle, and to investigate the efficacy of the skin stretch feedback in enhancing the human standing balance. Previously, we have shown that sensory augmentation by skin stretch feedback at the fingertip could modulate the standing balance of the people with simulated sensory deficits. In this study, subjects underwent ten 30-second trials of quiet standing balance with and without skin stretch feedback. Visual and vestibular sensory deficits were simulated by having each subject close their eyes and tilt their head back. We found that sensory augmentation by velocity-based skin stretch feedback at the fingertip reduced the entropy of the standing postural sway of the people with simulated sensory deficits. This result aligns with the framework of the free energy principle which states that a self-organizing biological system at its equilibrium state tries to minimize its free energy either by updating the internal state or by correcting body movement with appropriate actions. The velocity-based skin stretch feedback at the fingertip may increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensory signals, which in turn enhances the accuracy of the internal states in the central nervous system. With more accurate internal states, the human postural control system can further adjust the standing posture to minimize the entropy, and thus the free energy.

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