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Stein DJ, Nielsen K, Hartford A, Gagné-Julien AM, Glackin S, Friston K, Maj M, Zachar P, Aftab A. Philosophy of psychiatry: theoretical advances and clinical implications. World Psychiatry 2024; 23:215-232. [PMID: 38727058 PMCID: PMC11083904 DOI: 10.1002/wps.21194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Work at the intersection of philosophy and psychiatry has an extensive and influential history, and has received increased attention recently, with the emergence of professional associations and a growing literature. In this paper, we review key advances in work on philosophy and psychiatry, and their related clinical implications. First, in understanding and categorizing mental disorder, both naturalist and normativist considerations are now viewed as important - psychiatric constructs necessitate a consideration of both facts and values. At a conceptual level, this integrative view encourages moving away from strict scientism to soft naturalism, while in clinical practice this facilitates both evidence-based and values-based mental health care. Second, in considering the nature of psychiatric science, there is now increasing emphasis on a pluralist approach, including ontological, explanatory and value pluralism. Conceptually, a pluralist approach acknowledges the multi-level causal interactions that give rise to psychopathology, while clinically it emphasizes the importance of a broad range of "difference-makers", as well as a consideration of "lived experience" in both research and practice. Third, in considering a range of questions about the brain-mind, and how both somatic and psychic factors contribute to the development and maintenance of mental disorders, conceptual and empirical work on embodied cognition provides an increasingly valuable approach. Viewing the brain-mind as embodied, embedded and enactive offers a conceptual approach to the mind-body problem that facilitates the clinical integration of advances in both cognitive-affective neuroscience and phenomenological psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan J Stein
- South African Medical Research Council Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Kris Nielsen
- School of Psychology, Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Anna Hartford
- South African Medical Research Council Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Anne-Marie Gagné-Julien
- Centre for Research in Ethics, Canada Research Chair in Epistemic Injustice and Agency, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Shane Glackin
- Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Mario Maj
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
| | - Peter Zachar
- Department of Psychology, Auburn University Montgomery, Montgomery, AL, USA
| | - Awais Aftab
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
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Schiller D, Yu ANC, Alia-Klein N, Becker S, Cromwell HC, Dolcos F, Eslinger PJ, Frewen P, Kemp AH, Pace-Schott EF, Raber J, Silton RL, Stefanova E, Williams JHG, Abe N, Aghajani M, Albrecht F, Alexander R, Anders S, Aragón OR, Arias JA, Arzy S, Aue T, Baez S, Balconi M, Ballarini T, Bannister S, Banta MC, Barrett KC, Belzung C, Bensafi M, Booij L, Bookwala J, Boulanger-Bertolus J, Boutros SW, Bräscher AK, Bruno A, Busatto G, Bylsma LM, Caldwell-Harris C, Chan RCK, Cherbuin N, Chiarella J, Cipresso P, Critchley H, Croote DE, Demaree HA, Denson TF, Depue B, Derntl B, Dickson JM, Dolcos S, Drach-Zahavy A, Dubljević O, Eerola T, Ellingsen DM, Fairfield B, Ferdenzi C, Friedman BH, Fu CHY, Gatt JM, de Gelder B, Gendolla GHE, Gilam G, Goldblatt H, Gooding AEK, Gosseries O, Hamm AO, Hanson JL, Hendler T, Herbert C, Hofmann SG, Ibanez A, Joffily M, Jovanovic T, Kahrilas IJ, Kangas M, Katsumi Y, Kensinger E, Kirby LAJ, Koncz R, Koster EHW, Kozlowska K, Krach S, Kret ME, Krippl M, Kusi-Mensah K, Ladouceur CD, Laureys S, Lawrence A, Li CSR, Liddell BJ, Lidhar NK, Lowry CA, Magee K, Marin MF, Mariotti V, Martin LJ, Marusak HA, Mayer AV, Merner AR, Minnier J, Moll J, Morrison RG, Moore M, Mouly AM, Mueller SC, Mühlberger A, Murphy NA, Muscatello MRA, Musser ED, Newton TL, Noll-Hussong M, Norrholm SD, Northoff G, Nusslock R, Okon-Singer H, Olino TM, Ortner C, Owolabi M, Padulo C, Palermo R, Palumbo R, Palumbo S, Papadelis C, Pegna AJ, Pellegrini S, Peltonen K, Penninx BWJH, Pietrini P, Pinna G, Lobo RP, Polnaszek KL, Polyakova M, Rabinak C, Helene Richter S, Richter T, Riva G, Rizzo A, Robinson JL, Rosa P, Sachdev PS, Sato W, Schroeter ML, Schweizer S, Shiban Y, Siddharthan A, Siedlecka E, Smith RC, Soreq H, Spangler DP, Stern ER, Styliadis C, Sullivan GB, Swain JE, Urben S, Van den Stock J, Vander Kooij MA, van Overveld M, Van Rheenen TE, VanElzakker MB, Ventura-Bort C, Verona E, Volk T, Wang Y, Weingast LT, Weymar M, Williams C, Willis ML, Yamashita P, Zahn R, Zupan B, Lowe L. The Human Affectome. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 158:105450. [PMID: 37925091 PMCID: PMC11003721 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2022] [Revised: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023]
Abstract
Over the last decades, theoretical perspectives in the interdisciplinary field of the affective sciences have proliferated rather than converged due to differing assumptions about what human affective phenomena are and how they work. These metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions, shaped by academic context and values, have dictated affective constructs and operationalizations. However, an assumption about the purpose of affective phenomena can guide us to a common set of metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions. In this capstone paper, we home in on a nested teleological principle for human affective phenomena in order to synthesize metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions. Under this framework, human affective phenomena can collectively be considered algorithms that either adjust based on the human comfort zone (affective concerns) or monitor those adaptive processes (affective features). This teleologically-grounded framework offers a principled agenda and launchpad for both organizing existing perspectives and generating new ones. Ultimately, we hope the Human Affectome brings us a step closer to not only an integrated understanding of human affective phenomena, but an integrated field for affective research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Schiller
- Department of Psychiatry, the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, and the Friedman Brain Institute, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.
| | - Alessandra N C Yu
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States.
| | - Nelly Alia-Klein
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
| | - Susanne Becker
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany; Integrative Spinal Research Group, Department of Chiropractic Medicine, University Hospital Balgrist, University of Zurich, Balgrist Campus, Lengghalde 5, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Howard C Cromwell
- J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior, Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, United States
| | - Florin Dolcos
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States; Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States
| | - Paul J Eslinger
- Departments of Neurology, Neural & Behavioral Science, Radiology, and Public Health Sciences, Penn State Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States
| | - Paul Frewen
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Andrew H Kemp
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Science, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
| | - Edward F Pace-Schott
- Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jacob Raber
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, United States; Departments of Neurology, Radiation Medicine, Psychiatry, and Division of Neuroscience, ONPRC, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States
| | - Rebecca L Silton
- Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Elka Stefanova
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia; Neurology Clinic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Serbia
| | - Justin H G Williams
- Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, 1 Parklands Dr, Southport, QLD 4215, Australia
| | - Nobuhito Abe
- Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, 46 Shimoadachi-cho, Yoshida Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Moji Aghajani
- Institute of Education & Child Studies, Section Forensic Family & Youth Care, Leiden University, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Location VUMC, GGZ InGeest Research & Innovation, Amsterdam Neuroscience, the Netherlands
| | - Franziska Albrecht
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany; Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Karolinska University Hospital, Women's Health and Allied Health Professionals Theme, Medical unit Occupational Therapy & Physiotherapy, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Rebecca Alexander
- Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Silke Anders
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Oriana R Aragón
- Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT, United States; Cincinnati University, Marketing Department, 2906 Woodside Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0145, United States
| | - Juan A Arias
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Science, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom; Department of Statistics, Mathematical Analysis, and Operational Research, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain; The Galician Center for Mathematical Research and Technology (CITMAga), 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Shahar Arzy
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Tatjana Aue
- Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstr. 8, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | | | - Michela Balconi
- International Research Center for Cognitive Applied Neuroscience, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Tommaso Ballarini
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Scott Bannister
- Durham University, Palace Green, DH1 RL3 Durham, United Kingdom
| | | | - Karen Caplovitz Barrett
- Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States; Department of Community & Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health, Denver, CO, United States
| | | | - Moustafa Bensafi
- Research Center in Neurosciences of Lyon, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 bd Pinel, 69675 Bron Cedex, France
| | - Linda Booij
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada; CHU Sainte-Justine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Jamila Bookwala
- Department of Psychology, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, United States
| | - Julie Boulanger-Bertolus
- Department of Anesthesiology and Center for Consciousness Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Sydney Weber Boutros
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, United States
| | - Anne-Kathrin Bräscher
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Mainz, Wallstr. 3, 55122 Mainz, Germany; Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, United States
| | - Antonio Bruno
- Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging - University of Messina, Italy
| | - Geraldo Busatto
- Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroimaging (LIM-21), Departamento e Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
| | - Lauren M Bylsma
- Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology; and the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | | | - Raymond C K Chan
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Nicolas Cherbuin
- Centre for Research on Ageing, Health, and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Julian Chiarella
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada; CHU Sainte-Justine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Pietro Cipresso
- Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano (IRCCS), Milan, Italy; Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Hugo Critchley
- Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), University of Sussex, Sussex, United Kingdom
| | - Denise E Croote
- Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Friedman Brain Institute, New York, NY 10029, United States; Hospital Universitário Gaffrée e Guinle, Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Heath A Demaree
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States
| | - Thomas F Denson
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Brendan Depue
- Departments of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, United States
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Joanne M Dickson
- Edith Cowan University, Psychology Discipline, School of Arts and Humanities, 270 Joondalup Dr, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
| | - Sanda Dolcos
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States; Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States
| | - Anat Drach-Zahavy
- The Faculty of Health and Welfare Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Olga Dubljević
- Neurology Clinic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Serbia; Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", National Institute of Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Tuomas Eerola
- Durham University, Palace Green, DH1 RL3 Durham, United Kingdom
| | - Dan-Mikael Ellingsen
- Department of Diagnostic Physics, Division of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Beth Fairfield
- Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy; UniCamillus, International Medical University, Rome, Italy
| | - Camille Ferdenzi
- Research Center in Neurosciences of Lyon, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 bd Pinel, 69675 Bron Cedex, France
| | - Bruce H Friedman
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States
| | - Cynthia H Y Fu
- School of Psychology, University of East London, United Kingdom; Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Justine M Gatt
- Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, Australia; School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Guido H E Gendolla
- Geneva Motivation Lab, University of Geneva, FPSE, Section of Psychology, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Gadi Gilam
- The Institute of Biomedical and Oral Research, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, United States
| | - Hadass Goldblatt
- Department of Nursing, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | | | - Olivia Gosseries
- Coma Science Group, GIGA Consciousness & Centre du Cerveau2, University and University Hospital of Liege, Liege, Belgium
| | - Alfons O Hamm
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Jamie L Hanson
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, United States
| | - Talma Hendler
- Tel Aviv Center for Brain Function, Wohl Institute for Advanced Imaging, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Cornelia Herbert
- Department of Applied Emotion and Motivation Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
| | - Stefan G Hofmann
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Philipps University Marburg, Germany
| | - Agustin Ibanez
- Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile; Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), United States and Trinity Collegue Dublin (TCD), Ireland
| | - Mateus Joffily
- Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique (GATE), 93 Chemin des Mouilles, 69130 Écully, France
| | - Tanja Jovanovic
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavaioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Ian J Kahrilas
- Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Maria Kangas
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Yuta Katsumi
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States; Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Elizabeth Kensinger
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Lauren A J Kirby
- Department of Psychology and Counseling, University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, United States
| | - Rebecca Koncz
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Specialty of Psychiatry, The University of Sydney, Concord, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ernst H W Koster
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Sören Krach
- Social Neuroscience Lab, Translational Psychiatry Unit, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Mariska E Kret
- Leiden University, Cognitive Psychology, Pieter de la Court, Waassenaarseweg 52, Leiden 2333 AK, the Netherlands
| | - Martin Krippl
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Universitätsplatz 2, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Kwabena Kusi-Mensah
- Department of Psychiatry, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, P. O. Box 1934, Kumasi, Ghana; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Darwin College, Silver Street, CB3 9EU Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural Sciences Department, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Cecile D Ladouceur
- Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology and the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Steven Laureys
- Coma Science Group, GIGA Consciousness & Centre du Cerveau2, University and University Hospital of Liege, Liege, Belgium
| | - Alistair Lawrence
- Scotland's Rural College, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, Scotland; The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Scotland
| | - Chiang-Shan R Li
- Connecticut Mental Health Centre, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Belinda J Liddell
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Navdeep K Lidhar
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Christopher A Lowry
- Department of Integrative Physiology and Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
| | - Kelsey Magee
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States
| | - Marie-France Marin
- Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada; Research Center, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Veronica Mariotti
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Loren J Martin
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Hilary A Marusak
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavaioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States; Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Annalina V Mayer
- Social Neuroscience Lab, Translational Psychiatry Unit, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Amanda R Merner
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States
| | - Jessica Minnier
- School of Public Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States
| | - Jorge Moll
- Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroinformatics Unit, D'Or Institute for Research and Education, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Robert G Morrison
- Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Matthew Moore
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States; Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States; War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC), Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, United States
| | - Anne-Marie Mouly
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS-UMR 5292, INSERM U1028, Universite Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Sven C Mueller
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Andreas Mühlberger
- Department of Psychology (Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Nora A Murphy
- Department of Psychology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | | | - Erica D Musser
- Center for Children and Families, Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States
| | - Tamara L Newton
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, United States
| | - Michael Noll-Hussong
- Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, TU Muenchen, Langerstrasse 3, D-81675 Muenchen, Germany
| | - Seth Davin Norrholm
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavaioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Georg Northoff
- Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, Canada
| | - Robin Nusslock
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, United States
| | - Hadas Okon-Singer
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Thomas M Olino
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701N. 13th St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Catherine Ortner
- Thompson Rivers University, Department of Psychology, 805 TRU Way, Kamloops, BC, Canada
| | - Mayowa Owolabi
- Department of Medicine and Center for Genomic and Precision Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan; University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria; Blossom Specialist Medical Center Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
| | - Caterina Padulo
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy
| | - Romina Palermo
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Rocco Palumbo
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy
| | - Sara Palumbo
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and of Critical Care, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Christos Papadelis
- Jane and John Justin Neuroscience Center, Cook Children's Health Care System, Fort Worth, TX, United States; Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, United States
| | - Alan J Pegna
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Silvia Pellegrini
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Kirsi Peltonen
- Research Centre for Child Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; INVEST Research Flagship, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Brenda W J H Penninx
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Location VUMC, GGZ InGeest Research & Innovation, Amsterdam Neuroscience, the Netherlands
| | | | - Graziano Pinna
- The Psychiatric Institute, Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Rosario Pintos Lobo
- Center for Children and Families, Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States
| | - Kelly L Polnaszek
- Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Maryna Polyakova
- Neurology Department, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christine Rabinak
- Department of Pharmacy Practice, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - S Helene Richter
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Badestraße 13, Münster, Germany
| | - Thalia Richter
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Giuseppe Riva
- Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano (IRCCS), Milan, Italy; Humane Technology Lab., Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - Amelia Rizzo
- Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging - University of Messina, Italy
| | | | - Pedro Rosa
- Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroimaging (LIM-21), Departamento e Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
| | - Perminder S Sachdev
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Neuropsychiatric Institute, The Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia
| | - Wataru Sato
- Psychological Process Research Team, Guardian Robot Project, RIKEN, 2-2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Matthias L Schroeter
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Susanne Schweizer
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Youssef Shiban
- Department of Psychology (Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Department of Psychology (Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Research), PFH - Private University of Applied Sciences, Gottingen, Germany
| | - Advaith Siddharthan
- Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom
| | - Ewa Siedlecka
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Robert C Smith
- Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Hermona Soreq
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Edmond and Lily Safra Center of Brain Science and The Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Derek P Spangler
- Department of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States
| | - Emily R Stern
- Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, United States; New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States
| | - Charis Styliadis
- Neuroscience of Cognition and Affection group, Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | | | - James E Swain
- Departments of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, Psychology, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Medicine, and Program in Public Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, New York, United States
| | - Sébastien Urben
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Jan Van den Stock
- Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Michael A Vander Kooij
- Translational Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Universitatsmedizin der Johannes Guttenberg University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany
| | | | - Tamsyn E Van Rheenen
- University of Melbourne, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, 161 Barry Street, Carlton, VIC, Australia
| | - Michael B VanElzakker
- Division of Neurotherapeutics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Carlos Ventura-Bort
- Department of Biological Psychology and Affective Science, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Edelyn Verona
- Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States
| | - Tyler Volk
- Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Yi Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Leah T Weingast
- Department of Social Work and Human Services and the Department of Psychological Sciences, Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, United States
| | - Mathias Weymar
- Department of Biological Psychology and Affective Science, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg, University of Potsdam, Germany
| | - Claire Williams
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Science, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom; Elysium Neurological Services, Elysium Healthcare, The Avalon Centre, United Kingdom
| | - Megan L Willis
- School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Paula Yamashita
- Department of Integrative Physiology and Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
| | - Roland Zahn
- Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Barbra Zupan
- Central Queensland University, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Bruce Highway, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia
| | - Leroy Lowe
- Neuroqualia (NGO), Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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3
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Van de Cruys S, Frascaroli J, Friston K. Order and change in art: towards an active inference account of aesthetic experience. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220411. [PMID: 38104600 PMCID: PMC10725768 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
How to account for the power that art holds over us? Why do artworks touch us deeply, consoling, transforming or invigorating us in the process? In this paper, we argue that an answer to this question might emerge from a fecund framework in cognitive science known as predictive processing (a.k.a. active inference). We unpack how this approach connects sense-making and aesthetic experiences through the idea of an 'epistemic arc', consisting of three parts (curiosity, epistemic action and aha experiences), which we cast as aspects of active inference. We then show how epistemic arcs are built and sustained by artworks to provide us with those satisfying experiences that we tend to call 'aesthetic'. Next, we defuse two key objections to this approach; namely, that it places undue emphasis on the cognitive component of our aesthetic encounters-at the expense of affective aspects-and on closure and uncertainty minimization (order)-at the expense of openness and lingering uncertainty (change). We show that the approach offers crucial resources to account for the open-ended, free and playful behaviour inherent in aesthetic experiences. The upshot is a promising but deflationary approach, both philosophically informed and psychologically sound, that opens new empirical avenues for understanding our aesthetic encounters. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Karl Friston
- The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
- VERSES AI Research Lab, Los Angeles, 900016, CA, USA
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4
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Schmid FR, Kriegleder MF. Explanatory power by vagueness. Challenges to the strong prior hypothesis on hallucinations exemplified by the Charles-Bonnet-Syndrome. Conscious Cogn 2024; 117:103620. [PMID: 38104388 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2023.103620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Predictive processing models are often ascribed a certain generality in conceptually unifying the relationships between perception, action, and cognition or the potential to posit a 'grand unified theory' of the mind. The limitations of this unification can be seen when these models are applied to specific cognitive phenomena or phenomenal consciousness. Our article discusses these shortcomings for predictive processing models of hallucinations by the example of the Charles-Bonnet-Syndrome. This case study shows that the current predictive processing account omits essential characteristics of stimulus-independent perception in general, which has critical phenomenological implications. We argue that the most popular predictive processing model of hallucinatory conditions - the strong prior hypothesis - fails to fully account for the characteristics of nonveridical perceptual experiences associated with Charles-Bonnet-Syndrome. To fill this explanatory gap, we propose that the strong prior hypothesis needs to include reality monitoring to apply to more than just veridical percepts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franz Roman Schmid
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Austria; Vienna Doctoral School in Cognition, Behavior and Neuroscience, University of Vienna, Austria.
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5
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Friston K, Da Costa L, Sakthivadivel DAR, Heins C, Pavliotis GA, Ramstead M, Parr T. Path integrals, particular kinds, and strange things. Phys Life Rev 2023; 47:35-62. [PMID: 37703703 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023]
Abstract
This paper describes a path integral formulation of the free energy principle. The ensuing account expresses the paths or trajectories that a particle takes as it evolves over time. The main results are a method or principle of least action that can be used to emulate the behaviour of particles in open exchange with their external milieu. Particles are defined by a particular partition, in which internal states are individuated from external states by active and sensory blanket states. The variational principle at hand allows one to interpret internal dynamics-of certain kinds of particles-as inferring external states that are hidden behind blanket states. We consider different kinds of particles, and to what extent they can be imbued with an elementary form of inference or sentience. Specifically, we consider the distinction between dissipative and conservative particles, inert and active particles and, finally, ordinary and strange particles. Strange particles can be described as inferring their own actions, endowing them with apparent autonomy or agency. In short-of the kinds of particles afforded by a particular partition-strange kinds may be apt for describing sentient behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK; VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Lancelot Da Costa
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK; Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK; VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Dalton A R Sakthivadivel
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Mathematics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
| | - Conor Heins
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, Konstanz D-78457, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz D-78457, Germany.
| | | | - Maxwell Ramstead
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK; VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Thomas Parr
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK.
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6
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Manrique HM, Walker MJ. Bounding surprisal is only part of the story…Reply to comments on "To copy or not to copy? That is the question! From chimpanzees to the foundation of human technological culture". Phys Life Rev 2023; 47:279-283. [PMID: 37995541 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Héctor M Manrique
- Departamento de Psicología y Sociología, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
| | - Michael J Walker
- Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
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7
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Corcoran AW, Perrykkad K, Feuerriegel D, Robinson JE. Body as First Teacher: The Role of Rhythmic Visceral Dynamics in Early Cognitive Development. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023:17456916231185343. [PMID: 37694720 DOI: 10.1177/17456916231185343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Embodied cognition-the idea that mental states and processes should be understood in relation to one's bodily constitution and interactions with the world-remains a controversial topic within cognitive science. Recently, however, increasing interest in predictive processing theories among proponents and critics of embodiment alike has raised hopes of a reconciliation. This article sets out to appraise the unificatory potential of predictive processing, focusing in particular on embodied formulations of active inference. Our analysis suggests that most active-inference accounts invoke weak, potentially trivial conceptions of embodiment; those making stronger claims do so independently of the theoretical commitments of the active-inference framework. We argue that a more compelling version of embodied active inference can be motivated by adopting a diachronic perspective on the way rhythmic physiological activity shapes neural development in utero. According to this visceral afferent training hypothesis, early-emerging physiological processes are essential not only for supporting the biophysical development of neural structures but also for configuring the cognitive architecture those structures entail. Focusing in particular on the cardiovascular system, we propose three candidate mechanisms through which visceral afferent training might operate: (a) activity-dependent neuronal development, (b) periodic signal modeling, and (c) oscillatory network coordination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Corcoran
- Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash University
- Cognition and Philosophy Laboratory, School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies, Monash University
| | - Kelsey Perrykkad
- Cognition and Philosophy Laboratory, School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies, Monash University
| | | | - Jonathan E Robinson
- Cognition and Philosophy Laboratory, School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies, Monash University
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Froese T, Weber N, Shpurov I, Ikegami T. From autopoiesis to self-optimization: Toward an enactive model of biological regulation. Biosystems 2023:104959. [PMID: 37380066 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.104959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023]
Abstract
The theory of autopoiesis has been influential in many areas of theoretical biology, especially in the fields of artificial life and origins of life. However, it has not managed to productively connect with mainstream biology, partly for theoretical reasons, but arguably mainly because deriving specific working hypotheses has been challenging. The theory has recently undergone significant conceptual development in the enactive approach to life and mind. Hidden complexity in the original conception of autopoiesis has been explicated in the service of other operationalizable concepts related to self-individuation: precariousness, adaptivity, and agency. Here we advance these developments by highlighting the interplay of these concepts with considerations from thermodynamics: reversibility, irreversibility, and path-dependence. We interpret this interplay in terms of the self-optimization model, and present modeling results that illustrate how these minimal conditions enable a system to re-organize itself such that it tends toward coordinated constraint satisfaction at the system level. Although the model is still very abstract, these results point in a direction where the enactive approach could productively connect with cell biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Froese
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Tancha, Okinawa, Japan.
| | - Natalya Weber
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Tancha, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Ivan Shpurov
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Tancha, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Takashi Ikegami
- Theoretical Sciences Visiting Program, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Tancha, Okinawa, Japan; Ikegami Lab, Department of General Systems Studies, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Tokyo, Japan
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9
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Ramstead MJD, Sakthivadivel DAR, Heins C, Koudahl M, Millidge B, Da Costa L, Klein B, Friston KJ. On Bayesian mechanics: a physics of and by beliefs. Interface Focus 2023; 13:20220029. [PMID: 37213925 PMCID: PMC10198254 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2022.0029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to introduce a field of study that has emerged over the last decade, called Bayesian mechanics. Bayesian mechanics is a probabilistic mechanics, comprising tools that enable us to model systems endowed with a particular partition (i.e. into particles), where the internal states (or the trajectories of internal states) of a particular system encode the parameters of beliefs about external states (or their trajectories). These tools allow us to write down mechanical theories for systems that look as if they are estimating posterior probability distributions over the causes of their sensory states. This provides a formal language for modelling the constraints, forces, potentials and other quantities determining the dynamics of such systems, especially as they entail dynamics on a space of beliefs (i.e. on a statistical manifold). Here, we will review the state of the art in the literature on the free energy principle, distinguishing between three ways in which Bayesian mechanics has been applied to particular systems (i.e. path-tracking, mode-tracking and mode-matching). We go on to examine a duality between the free energy principle and the constrained maximum entropy principle, both of which lie at the heart of Bayesian mechanics, and discuss its implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxwell J. D. Ramstead
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Dalton A. R. Sakthivadivel
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA
- Department of Mathematics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Conor Heins
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA
- Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Magnus Koudahl
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Beren Millidge
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA
- Brain Network Dynamics Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lancelot Da Costa
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Brennan Klein
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA
- Network Science Institute, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Karl J. Friston
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
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10
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Froese T. Irruption Theory: A Novel Conceptualization of the Enactive Account of Motivated Activity. ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 25:e25050748. [PMID: 37238503 DOI: 10.3390/e25050748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive science is lacking conceptual tools to describe how an agent's motivations, as such, can play a role in the generation of its behavior. The enactive approach has made progress by developing a relaxed naturalism, and by placing normativity at the core of life and mind; all cognitive activity is a kind of motivated activity. It has rejected representational architectures, especially their reification of the role of normativity into localized "value" functions, in favor of accounts that appeal to system-level properties of the organism. However, these accounts push the problem of reification to a higher level of description, given that the efficacy of agent-level normativity is completely identified with the efficacy of non-normative system-level activity, while assuming operational equivalency. To allow normativity to have its own efficacy, a new kind of nonreductive theory is proposed: irruption theory. The concept of irruption is introduced to indirectly operationalize an agent's motivated involvement in its activity, specifically in terms of a corresponding underdetermination of its states by their material basis. This implies that irruptions are associated with increased unpredictability of (neuro)physiological activity, and they should, hence, be quantifiable in terms of information-theoretic entropy. Accordingly, evidence that action, cognition, and consciousness are linked to higher levels of neural entropy can be interpreted as indicating higher levels of motivated agential involvement. Counterintuitively, irruptions do not stand in contrast to adaptive behavior. Rather, as indicated by artificial life models of complex adaptive systems, bursts of arbitrary changes in neural activity can facilitate the self-organization of adaptivity. Irruption theory therefore, makes it intelligible how an agent's motivations, as such, can make effective differences to their behavior, without requiring the agent to be able to directly control their body's neurophysiological processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Froese
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son 904-0495, Okinawa, Japan
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11
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Ho SS, Nakamura Y, Swain JE. Path of intuitive compassion to transform conflicts into enduring peace and prosperity: Symmetry across domains of reiterated prisoner's dilemma, dyadic active inference, and Mahayana Buddhism. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1099800. [PMID: 36968746 PMCID: PMC10034324 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1099800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Conflicts are increasingly intensified among the members of the community, making it almost impossible to extend compassion-defined as a wish to relieve others from suffering-from one side to the other, especially when both sides believe that "life is a battle of us the good vs. them the evil." Is compassion even relevant to conflicts? The answer depends on how a conflict is framed in one's perception. If a conflict is perceived in a frame of zero-sum competition, then compassion is meaningless in such a "tug-of-war" mindset. Conversely, if perceived in a non-zero-sum frame-as demonstrated in reiterated prisoner's dilemma (rPD) in which two players may interdependently render win-win, lose-lose, win-lose, or lose-win scenarios by their actions-then compassion can help achieve the most preferable outcomes for all in a "dyadic dance" mindset. In this article, we present a path of intuitive compassion by pointing to symmetry across three distinct domains of rPD, dyadic active inference, and Mahayana Buddhism. In each of these domains, conflicts serve as points of bifurcation on a bidirectional path, and compassion as a conflict-proof commitment to carrying out the best strategies-even if assessed for one's own sake only-that consistently produce optimal payoffs in rPD, minimal stress in dyadic active inference, and limitless joy of ultimate enlightenment in Mahayana Buddhism. Conversely, a lack of compassion is caused by invalid beliefs that obscure the nature of reality in these domains, causing conflicts to produce even more conflicts. These invalid beliefs are produced by mistakes of over-reduction, over-separation, and over-compression in the mind, and therefore, a person's mindset is overly compressed from a multidimensional frame to a one-dimensional frame. Taken together, intuitive compassion is not about how to balance one's self-serving goals with altruistic ones. Rather, it is a conflict-proof commitment to transforming conflicts into enduring peace and prosperity according to the ultimate nature of reality. The work presented here may serve as a preliminary science-informed introduction to a genre of time-tested compassion meditations, i.e., lojong mind training, for the world laden with conflicts, starting from the conflicts in close relationships to those in geopolitics.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Shaun Ho
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Yoshio Nakamura
- Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Research Center, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - James E. Swain
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
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12
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Miller M, Albarracin M, Pitliya RJ, Kiefer A, Mago J, Gorman C, Friston KJ, Ramstead MJD. Resilience and active inference. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1059117. [PMID: 36619023 PMCID: PMC9815108 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1059117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In this article, we aim to conceptualize and formalize the construct of resilience using the tools of active inference, a new physics-based modeling approach apt for the description and analysis of complex adaptive systems. We intend this as a first step toward a computational model of resilient systems. We begin by offering a conceptual analysis of resilience, to clarify its meaning, as established in the literature. We examine an orthogonal, threefold distinction between meanings of the word "resilience": (i) inertia, or the ability to resist change (ii) elasticity, or the ability to bounce back from a perturbation, and (iii) plasticity, or the ability to flexibly expand the repertoire of adaptive states. We then situate all three senses of resilience within active inference. We map resilience as inertia onto high precision beliefs, resilience as elasticity onto relaxation back to characteristic (i.e., attracting) states, and resilience as plasticity onto functional redundancy and structural degeneracy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Miller
- Center for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Mahault Albarracin
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Computing, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Riddhi J. Pitliya
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Alex Kiefer
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Jonas Mago
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Claire Gorman
- MIT Senseable City Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Karl J. Friston
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Maxwell J. D. Ramstead
- VERSES Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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13
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Abbey H. Communication strategies in psychologically informed osteopathic practice: A case report. INT J OSTEOPATH MED 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijosm.2022.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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14
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Bottemanne H. Théories du complot et COVID-19 : comment naissent les croyances complotistes ? Encephale 2022; 48:571-582. [PMID: 35597682 PMCID: PMC8818386 DOI: 10.1016/j.encep.2021.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Revised: 12/12/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
La pandémie COVID-19 causée par le nouveau coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 a provoqué une crise mondiale sans précédent, associée à une prolifération de théories du complot. La prévalence de ces croyances complotistes a participé à affaiblir la crédibilité des mesures gouvernementales de santé publique, limiter l'accès des citoyens aux sources d’information fiables, et perturber la réponse des systèmes de santé face à la crise sanitaire. Plusieurs hypothèses ont été proposées en psychologie et en sciences sociales pour comprendre la genèse de ces croyances dans des contextes épidémiques, associant l’implication conjointe de facteurs psychologiques (comme la volonté de préserver sa sécurité, de maintenir une image de soi positive, ou encore de renforcer son rôle social) et sociodémographiques (comme les caractéristiques générationnelles, socioculturelles et politiques des individus). Toutefois, les découvertes récentes en sciences cognitives à propos des mécanismes élémentaires de traitement de l'information offrent un nouvel éclairage sur la génération des croyances conspirationnistes à travers les époques et les cultures. Dans cet article, nous proposons une définition de la théorie du complot et une classification des croyances complotistes pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. Nous montrons comment les mécanismes de génération et de mise à jour des croyances permettent d'expliquer la genèse des théories du complot, et nous proposons plusieurs hypothèses étayées par les recherches contemporaines en sciences cognitives et en sciences sociales à propos des théories du complot.
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15
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Redressing the emperor in causal clothing. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e188. [PMID: 36172765 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22000176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Over-flexibility in the definition of Friston blankets obscures a key distinction between observational and interventional inference. The latter requires cognizers form not just a causal representation of the world but also of their own boundary and relationship with it, in order to diagnose the consequences of their actions. We suggest this locates the blanket in the eye of the beholder.
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16
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Markov blankets do not demarcate the boundaries of the mind. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e201. [PMID: 36172779 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22000371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
We agree with Bruineberg and colleagues' main claims. However, we urge for a more forceful critique by focusing on the extended mind debate. We argue that even once the Pearl and Friston versions of the Markov blanket have been untangled, that neither is sufficient for tackling and resolving the question of demarcating the boundaries of the mind.
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Bottemanne H, Barberousse A, Fossati P. [Multidimensional and computational theory of mood]. Encephale 2022; 48:682-699. [PMID: 35987716 DOI: 10.1016/j.encep.2022.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
What is mood? Despite its crucial place in psychiatric nosography and cognitive science, it is still difficult to delimit its conceptual ground. The distinction between emotion and mood is ambiguous: mood is often presented as an affective state that is more prolonged and less intense than emotion, or as an affective polarity distinguishing high and low mood swinging around a baseline. However, these definitions do not match the clinical reality of mood disorders such as unipolar depression and bipolar disorder, and do not allow us to understand the effect of mood on behaviour, perception and cognition. In this paper, we propose a multidimensional and computational theory of mood inspired by contemporary hypotheses in theoretical neuroscience and philosophy of emotion. After suggesting an operational distinction between emotion and mood, we show how a succession of emotions can cumulatively generate congruent mood over time, making mood an emerging state from emotion. We then present how mood determines mental and behavioral states when interacting with the environment, constituting a dispositional state of emotion, perception, belief, and action. Using this theoretical framework, we propose a computational representation of the emerging and dispositional dimensions of mood by formalizing mood as a layer of third-order Bayesian beliefs encoding the precision of emotion, and regulated by prediction errors associated with interoceptive predictions. Finally, we show how this theoretical framework sheds light on the processes involved in mood disorders, the emergence of mood congruent beliefs, or the mechanisms of antidepressant treatments in clinical psychiatry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hugo Bottemanne
- Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau (ICM), Sorbonne University/CNRS/Inserm, Paris, France; Department of philosophy, Sciences Normes Démocratie research unit, Sorbonne university/CNRS, Paris, France; Department of psychiatry, DMU Neuroscience, Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, Sorbonne university/Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Paris, France.
| | - Anouk Barberousse
- Department of philosophy, Sciences Normes Démocratie research unit, Sorbonne university/CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Philippe Fossati
- Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau (ICM), Sorbonne University/CNRS/Inserm, Paris, France; Department of psychiatry, DMU Neuroscience, Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, Sorbonne university/Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Paris, France
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18
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Ho SS, Nakamura Y, Gopang M, Swain JE. Intersubjectivity as an antidote to stress: Using dyadic active inference model of intersubjectivity to predict the efficacy of parenting interventions in reducing stress—through the lens of dependent origination in Buddhist Madhyamaka philosophy. Front Psychol 2022; 13:806755. [PMID: 35967689 PMCID: PMC9372294 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.806755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Intersubjectivity refers to one person’s awareness in relation to another person’s awareness. It is key to well-being and human development. From infancy to adulthood, human interactions ceaselessly contribute to the flourishing or impairment of intersubjectivity. In this work, we first describe intersubjectivity as a hallmark of quality dyadic processes. Then, using parent-child relationship as an example, we propose a dyadic active inference model to elucidate an inverse relation between stress and intersubjectivity. We postulate that impaired intersubjectivity is a manifestation of underlying problems of deficient relational benevolence, misattributing another person’s intentions (over-mentalizing), and neglecting the effects of one’s own actions on the other person (under-coupling). These problems can exacerbate stress due to excessive variational free energy in a person’s active inference engine when that person feels threatened and holds on to his/her invalid (mis)beliefs. In support of this dyadic model, we briefly describe relevant neuroimaging literature to elucidate brain networks underlying the effects of an intersubjectivity-oriented parenting intervention on parenting stress. Using the active inference dyadic model, we identified critical interventional strategies necessary to rectify these problems and hereby developed a coding system in reference to these strategies. In a theory-guided quantitative review, we used this coding system to code 35 clinical trials of parenting interventions published between 2016 and 2020, based on PubMed database, to predict their efficacy for reducing parenting stress. The results of this theory-guided analysis corroborated our hypothesis that parenting intervention can effectively reduce parenting stress if the intervention is designed to mitigate the problems of deficient relational benevolence, under-coupling, and over-mentalizing. We integrated our work with several dyadic concepts identified in the literature. Finally, inspired by Arya Nagarjuna’s Buddhist Madhyamaka Philosophy, we described abstract expressions of Dependent Origination as a relational worldview to reflect on the normality, impairment, and rehabilitation of intersubjectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Shaun Ho
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
- *Correspondence: S. Shaun Ho,
| | - Yoshio Nakamura
- Pain Research Center, Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Meroona Gopang
- Program of Population Health and Clinical Outcomes Research, School of Public Health, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - James E. Swain
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
- Program of Population Health and Clinical Outcomes Research, School of Public Health, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
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19
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Frankle L. Entropy, Amnesia, and Abnormal Déjà Experiences. Front Psychol 2022; 13:794683. [PMID: 35967717 PMCID: PMC9364811 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.794683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has contrasted fleeting erroneous experiences of familiarity with equally convincing, and often more stubborn erroneous experiences of remembering. While a subset of the former category may present as nonpathological “déjà vu,” the latter, termed “déjà vécu” can categorize a delusion-like confabulatory phenomenon first described in elderly dementia patients. Leading explanations for this experience include the dual process view, in which erroneous familiarity and erroneous recollection are elicited by inappropriate activation of the parahippocampal cortex and the hippocampus, respectively, and the more popular encoding-as-retrieval explanation in which normal memory encoding processes are falsely flagged and interpreted as memory retrieval. This paper presents a novel understanding of this recollective confabulation that builds on the encoding-as-retrieval hypothesis but more adequately accounts for the co-occurrence of persistent déjà vécu with both perceptual novelty and memory impairment, the latter of which occurs not only in progressive dementia but also in transient epileptic amnesia (TEA) and psychosis. It makes use of the growing interdisciplinary understanding of the fluidity of time and posits that the functioning of memory and the perception of novelty, long known to influence the subjective experience of time, may have a more fundamental effect on the flow of time.
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20
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Kiverstein J, Kirchhoff MD, Froese T. The Problem of Meaning: The Free Energy Principle and Artificial Agency. Front Neurorobot 2022; 16:844773. [PMID: 35812784 PMCID: PMC9260223 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2022.844773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Biological agents can act in ways that express a sensitivity to context-dependent relevance. So far it has proven difficult to engineer this capacity for context-dependent sensitivity to relevance in artificial agents. We give this problem the label the “problem of meaning”. The problem of meaning could be circumvented if artificial intelligence researchers were to design agents based on the assumption of the continuity of life and mind. In this paper, we focus on the proposal made by enactive cognitive scientists to design artificial agents that possess sensorimotor autonomy—stable, self-sustaining patterns of sensorimotor interaction that can ground values, norms and goals necessary for encountering a meaningful environment. More specifically, we consider whether the Free Energy Principle (FEP) can provide formal tools for modeling sensorimotor autonomy. There is currently no consensus on how to understand the relationship between enactive cognitive science and the FEP. However, a number of recent papers have argued that the two frameworks are fundamentally incompatible. Some argue that biological systems exhibit historical path-dependent learning that is absent from systems that minimize free energy. Others have argued that a free energy minimizing system would fail to satisfy a key condition for sensorimotor agency referred to as “interactional asymmetry”. These critics question the claim we defend in this paper that the FEP can be used to formally model autonomy and adaptivity. We will argue it is too soon to conclude that the two frameworks are incompatible. There are undeniable conceptual differences between the two frameworks but in our view each has something important and necessary to offer. The FEP needs enactive cognitive science for the solution it provides to the problem of meaning. Enactive cognitive science needs the FEP to formally model the properties it argues to be constitutive of agency. Our conclusion will be that active inference models based on the FEP provides a way by which scientists can think about how to address the problems of engineering autonomy and adaptivity in artificial agents in formal terms. In the end engaging more closely with this formalism and its further developments will benefit those working within the enactive framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Kiverstein
- Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- *Correspondence: Julian Kiverstein
| | - Michael D. Kirchhoff
- Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities, School of Liberal Arts, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Tom Froese
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
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21
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An Enactive-Ecological Model to Guide Patient-Centered Osteopathic Care. Healthcare (Basel) 2022; 10:healthcare10061092. [PMID: 35742142 PMCID: PMC9223169 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10061092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Revised: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Osteopaths commonly face complexity and clinical uncertainty in their daily professional practice as primary contact practitioners. In order to effectively deal with complex clinical presentations, osteopaths need to possess well-developed clinical reasoning to understand the individual patient’s lived experience of pain and other symptoms and how their problem impacts their personhood and ability to engage with their world. We have recently proposed (En)active inference as an integrative framework for osteopathic care. The enactivist and active inference frameworks underpin our integrative hypothesis. Here, we present a clinically based interpretation of our integrative hypothesis by considering the ecological niche in which osteopathic care occurs. Active inference enables patients and practitioners to disambiguate each other’s mental states. The patients’ mental states are unobservable and must be inferred based on perceptual cues such as posture, body language, gaze direction and response to touch and hands-on care. A robust therapeutic alliance centred on cooperative communication and shared narratives and the appropriate and effective use of touch and hands-on care enable patients to contextualize their lived experiences. Touch and hands-on care enhance the therapeutic alliance, mental state alignment, and biobehavioural synchrony between patient and practitioner. Therefore, the osteopath–patient dyad provides mental state alignment and opportunities for ecological niche construction. Arguably, this can produce therapeutic experiences which reduce the prominence given to high-level prediction errors—and consequently, the top-down attentional focus on bottom-up sensory prediction errors, thus minimizing free energy. This commentary paper primarily aims to enable osteopaths to critically consider the value of this proposed framework in appreciating the complexities of delivering person-centred care.
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22
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Reconceptualizing the therapeutic alliance in osteopathic practice: Integrating insights from phenomenology, psychology and enactive inference. INT J OSTEOPATH MED 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijosm.2022.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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23
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An informal reconstruction of the free-energy framework, examining the conceptual problems that arise. Neuropsychologia 2022; 173:108281. [PMID: 35662551 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2021] [Revised: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Recent decades have seen increasing attention given to the free-energy framework. This proposes that many of the phenomena we associate with life, intelligence and adaptation can be explained in terms of a single, mathematical precept: the free-energy principle. This is claimed to apply to the adaptive behavior of primitive organisms as much as it does to the physiological structures of human brains. The proposal is potentially of interest to theorists from multiple disciplines. But as presentations often make intensive use of mathematical notation, it can be hard to understand, even for experts. The present article presents an informal reconstruction, using schematic illustrations. Mathematical notation is largely avoided, while detail and precision are retained as far as possible. The specifically conceptual problems that come to notice in the reconstruction are highlighted and discussed.
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24
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Bolotta S, Dumas G. Social Neuro AI: Social Interaction as the “Dark Matter” of AI. FRONTIERS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fcomp.2022.846440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This article introduces a three-axis framework indicating how AI can be informed by biological examples of social learning mechanisms. We argue that the complex human cognitive architecture owes a large portion of its expressive power to its ability to engage in social and cultural learning. However, the field of AI has mostly embraced a solipsistic perspective on intelligence. We thus argue that social interactions not only are largely unexplored in this field but also are an essential element of advanced cognitive ability, and therefore constitute metaphorically the “dark matter” of AI. In the first section, we discuss how social learning plays a key role in the development of intelligence. We do so by discussing social and cultural learning theories and empirical findings from social neuroscience. Then, we discuss three lines of research that fall under the umbrella of Social NeuroAI and can contribute to developing socially intelligent embodied agents in complex environments. First, neuroscientific theories of cognitive architecture, such as the global workspace theory and the attention schema theory, can enhance biological plausibility and help us understand how we could bridge individual and social theories of intelligence. Second, intelligence occurs in time as opposed to over time, and this is naturally incorporated by dynamical systems. Third, embodiment has been demonstrated to provide more sophisticated array of communicative signals. To conclude, we discuss the example of active inference, which offers powerful insights for developing agents that possess biological realism, can self-organize in time, and are socially embodied.
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25
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Ramstead MJD, Seth AK, Hesp C, Sandved-Smith L, Mago J, Lifshitz M, Pagnoni G, Smith R, Dumas G, Lutz A, Friston K, Constant A. From Generative Models to Generative Passages: A Computational Approach to (Neuro) Phenomenology. REVIEW OF PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 13:829-857. [PMID: 35317021 PMCID: PMC8932094 DOI: 10.1007/s13164-021-00604-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
This paper presents a version of neurophenomenology based on generative modelling techniques developed in computational neuroscience and biology. Our approach can be described as computational phenomenology because it applies methods originally developed in computational modelling to provide a formal model of the descriptions of lived experience in the phenomenological tradition of philosophy (e.g., the work of Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, etc.). The first section presents a brief review of the overall project to naturalize phenomenology. The second section presents and evaluates philosophical objections to that project and situates our version of computational phenomenology with respect to these projects. The third section reviews the generative modelling framework. The final section presents our approach in detail. We conclude by discussing how our approach differs from previous attempts to use generative modelling to help understand consciousness. In summary, we describe a version of computational phenomenology which uses generative modelling to construct a computational model of the inferential or interpretive processes that best explain this or that kind of lived experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxwell J. D. Ramstead
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
- VERSES Research Lab and Spatial Web Foundation, Los Angeles, California USA
| | - Anil K. Seth
- School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QJ UK
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1M1 Canada
| | - Casper Hesp
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Centre, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Institute for Advanced Study, University of Amsterdam, Oude Turfmarkt 147, 1012 GC Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Lars Sandved-Smith
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon 1 University, Lyon, France
| | - Jonas Mago
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Michael Lifshitz
- Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada
| | - Giuseppe Pagnoni
- Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
- Center for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Ryan Smith
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma USA
| | - Guillaume Dumas
- CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
- Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Antoine Lutz
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon 1 University, Lyon, France
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
- VERSES Research Lab and Spatial Web Foundation, Los Angeles, California USA
| | - Axel Constant
- Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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26
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Mazzaglia P, Verbelen T, Çatal O, Dhoedt B. The Free Energy Principle for Perception and Action: A Deep Learning Perspective. ENTROPY 2022; 24:e24020301. [PMID: 35205595 PMCID: PMC8871280 DOI: 10.3390/e24020301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Revised: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The free energy principle, and its corollary active inference, constitute a bio-inspired theory that assumes biological agents act to remain in a restricted set of preferred states of the world, i.e., they minimize their free energy. Under this principle, biological agents learn a generative model of the world and plan actions in the future that will maintain the agent in an homeostatic state that satisfies its preferences. This framework lends itself to being realized in silico, as it comprehends important aspects that make it computationally affordable, such as variational inference and amortized planning. In this work, we investigate the tool of deep learning to design and realize artificial agents based on active inference, presenting a deep-learning oriented presentation of the free energy principle, surveying works that are relevant in both machine learning and active inference areas, and discussing the design choices that are involved in the implementation process. This manuscript probes newer perspectives for the active inference framework, grounding its theoretical aspects into more pragmatic affairs, offering a practical guide to active inference newcomers and a starting point for deep learning practitioners that would like to investigate implementations of the free energy principle.
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27
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Esteves JE, Cerritelli F, Kim J, Friston KJ. Osteopathic Care as (En)active Inference: A Theoretical Framework for Developing an Integrative Hypothesis in Osteopathy. Front Psychol 2022; 13:812926. [PMID: 35250743 PMCID: PMC8894811 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.812926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Osteopathy is a person-centred healthcare discipline that emphasizes the body’s structure-function interrelationship—and its self-regulatory mechanisms—to inform a whole-person approach to health and wellbeing. This paper aims to provide a theoretical framework for developing an integrative hypothesis in osteopathy, which is based on the enactivist and active inference accounts. We propose that osteopathic care can be reconceptualised under (En)active inference as a unifying framework. Active inference suggests that action-perception cycles operate to minimize uncertainty and optimize an individual’s internal model of the lived world and, crucially, the consequences of their behaviour. We argue that (En)active inference offers an integrative framework for osteopathy, which can evince the mechanisms underlying dyadic and triadic (e.g., in paediatric care) exchanges and osteopathic care outcomes. We propose that this theoretical framework can underpin osteopathic care across the lifespan, from preterm infants to the elderly and those with persistent pain and other physical symptoms. In situations of chronicity, as an ecological niche, the patient-practitioner dyad provides the osteopath and the patient with a set of affordances, i.e., possibilities for action provided by the environment, that through shared intentionally, can promote adaptations and restoration of productive agency. Through a dyadic therapeutic relationship, as they engage with their ecological niche’s affordances—a structured set of affordances shared by agents—osteopath and patient actively construct a shared sense-making narrative and realise a shared generative model of their relation to the niche. In general, touch plays a critical role in developing a robust therapeutic alliance, mental state alignment, and biobehavioural synchrony between patient and practitioner. However, its role is particularly crucial in the fields of neonatology and paediatrics, where it becomes central in regulating allostasis and restoring homeostasis. We argue that from an active inference standpoint, the dyadic shared ecological niche underwrites a robust therapeutic alliance, which is crucial to the effectiveness of osteopathic care. Considerations and implications of this model—to clinical practice and research, both within- and outside osteopathy—are critically discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge E. Esteves
- Clinical-Based Human Research Department, Foundation COME Collaboration, Pescara, Italy
- Malta ICOM Educational, Gżira, Malta
- Research Department, University College of Osteopathy, London, United Kingdom
- *Correspondence: Jorge E. Esteves,
| | - Francesco Cerritelli
- Clinical-Based Human Research Department, Foundation COME Collaboration, Pescara, Italy
| | - Joohan Kim
- Department of Communication, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Karl J. Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
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28
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Gauld C, Nielsen K, Job M, Bottemanne H, Dumas G. From analytic to synthetic-organizational pluralisms: A pluralistic enactive psychiatry. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:981787. [PMID: 36238942 PMCID: PMC9551055 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.981787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Reliance on sole reductionism, whether explanatory, methodological or ontological, is difficult to support in clinical psychiatry. Rather, psychiatry is challenged by a plurality of approaches. There exist multiple legitimate ways of understanding human functionality and disorder, i.e., different systems of representation, different tools, different methodologies and objectives. Pluralistic frameworks have been presented through which the multiplicity of approaches in psychiatry can be understood. In parallel of these frameworks, an enactive approach for psychiatry has been proposed. In this paper, we consider the relationships between the different kinds of pluralistic frameworks and this enactive approach for psychiatry. METHODS We compare the enactive approach in psychiatry with wider analytical forms of pluralism. RESULTS On one side, the enactive framework anchored both in cognitive sciences, theory of dynamic systems, systems biology, and phenomenology, has recently been proposed as an answer to the challenge of an integrative psychiatry. On the other side, two forms of explanatory pluralisms can be described: a non-integrative pluralism and an integrative pluralism. The first is tolerant, it examines the coexistence of different potentially incompatible or untranslatable systems in the scientific or clinical landscape. The second is integrative and proposes to bring together the different levels of understanding and systems of representations. We propose that enactivism is inherently a form of integrative pluralism, but it is at the same time a component of the general framework of explanatory pluralism, composed of a set of so-called analytical approaches. CONCLUSIONS A significant number of mental health professionals are already accepting the variety of clinical and scientific approaches. In this way, a rigorous understanding of the theoretical positioning of psychiatric actors seems necessary to promote quality clinical practice. The study of entanglements between an analytical pluralism and a synthetic-organizational enactivist pluralism could prove fruitful.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Gauld
- Department of Child Psychiatry, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Grenoble, France.,Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229 CNRS and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Paris, France
| | - Kristopher Nielsen
- School of Psychology, Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Manon Job
- Institut Jean Nicod, École Normale Supérieure-EHESS, Paris, France
| | - Hugo Bottemanne
- Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau (ICM), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Center for the National Scientific Research (CNRS), APHP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, DMU Neuroscience, Sorbonne University, Paris, France.,Department of Psychiatry, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, DMU Neuroscience, Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Paris, France.,Department of Philosophy, Sorbonne University, SND Research Unit, Center for the National Scientific Research (CNRS), UMR 8011, Paris, France
| | - Guillaume Dumas
- CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Mila - Québec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
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29
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Abstract
We offer an account of mental health and well-being using the predictive processing framework (PPF). According to this framework, the difference between mental health and psychopathology can be located in the goodness of the predictive model as a regulator of action. What is crucial for avoiding the rigid patterns of thinking, feeling and acting associated with psychopathology is the regulation of action based on the valence of affective states. In PPF, valence is modelled as error dynamics—the change in prediction errors over time . Our aim in this paper is to show how error dynamics can account for both momentary happiness and longer term well-being. What will emerge is a new neurocomputational framework for making sense of human flourishing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Miller
- Center for Consciousness and Contemplative StudiesMonash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Erik Rietveld
- ILLC/Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdamhe Netherlands Department of PhilosophyUniversity of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
| | - Julian Kiverstein
- ILLC/Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdamhe Netherlands Department of PhilosophyUniversity of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
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30
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Sennesh E, Theriault J, Brooks D, van de Meent JW, Barrett LF, Quigley KS. Interoception as modeling, allostasis as control. Biol Psychol 2021; 167:108242. [PMID: 34942287 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Revised: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The brain regulates the body by anticipating its needs and attempting to meet them before they arise - a process called allostasis. Allostasis requires a model of the changing sensory conditions within the body, a process called interoception. In this paper, we examine how interoception may provide performance feedback for allostasis. We suggest studying allostasis in terms of control theory, reviewing control theory's applications to related issues in physiology, motor control, and decision making. We synthesize these by relating them to the important properties of allostatic regulation as a control problem. We then sketch a novel formalism for how the brain might perform allostatic control of the viscera by analogy to skeletomotor control, including a mathematical view on how interoception acts as performance feedback for allostasis. Finally, we suggest ways to test implications of our hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eli Sennesh
- Northeastern University, Boston, MA , United States.
| | | | - Dana Brooks
- Northeastern University, Boston, MA , United States
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Raja V, Valluri D, Baggs E, Chemero A, Anderson ML. The Markov blanket trick: On the scope of the free energy principle and active inference. Phys Life Rev 2021; 39:49-72. [PMID: 34563472 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2021.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The free energy principle (FEP) has been presented as a unified brain theory, as a general principle for the self-organization of biological systems, and most recently as a principle for a theory of every thing. Additionally, active inference has been proposed as the process theory entailed by FEP that is able to model the full range of biological and cognitive events. In this paper, we challenge these two claims. We argue that FEP is not the general principle it is claimed to be, and that active inference is not the all-encompassing process theory it is purported to be either. The core aspects of our argumentation are that (i) FEP is just a way to generalize Bayesian inference to all domains by the use of a Markov blanket formalism, a generalization we call the Markov blanket trick; and that (ii) active inference presupposes successful perception and action instead of explaining them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vicente Raja
- Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University, Canada.
| | - Dinesh Valluri
- Department of Computer Science, Western University, Canada
| | - Edward Baggs
- Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University, Canada
| | - Anthony Chemero
- Department of Philosophy, University of Cincinnati, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, USA
| | - Michael L Anderson
- Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University, Canada; Department of Philosophy, Western University, Canada; Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, Canada
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32
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Bohlen L, Shaw R, Cerritelli F, Esteves JE. Osteopathy and Mental Health: An Embodied, Predictive, and Interoceptive Framework. Front Psychol 2021; 12:767005. [PMID: 34777176 PMCID: PMC8578726 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.767005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Globally, mental and musculoskeletal disorders present with high prevalence, disease burden, and comorbidity. In order to improve the quality of care for patients with persistent physical and comorbid mental health conditions, person-centered care approaches addressing psychosocial factors are currently advocated. Central to successful person-centered care is a multidisciplinary collaboration between mental health and musculoskeletal specialists underpinned by a robust therapeutic alliance. Such a collaborative approach might be found in osteopathy, which is typically utilized to treat patients with musculoskeletal disorders but may arguably also benefit mental health outcomes. However, research and practice exploring the reputed effect of osteopathy on patients with mental health problems lack a robust framework. In this hypothesis and theory article, we build upon research from embodied cognition, predictive coding, interoception, and osteopathy to propose an embodied, predictive and interoceptive framework that underpins osteopathic person-centered care for individuals with persistent physical and comorbid mental health problems. Based on the premise that, for example, chronic pain and comorbid depression are underlined by overly precise predictions or imprecise sensory information, we hypothesize that osteopathic treatment may generate strong interoceptive prediction errors that update the generative model underpinning the experience of pain and depression. Thus, physical and mental symptoms may be reduced through active and perceptual inference. We discuss how these theoretical perspectives can inform future research into osteopathy and mental health to reduce the burden of comorbid psychological factors in patients with persistent physical symptoms and support person-centered multidisciplinary care in mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Bohlen
- Osteopathic Research Institute, Osteopathie Schule Deutschland, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Robert Shaw
- Scandinavian College of Osteopathy, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia
| | - Francesco Cerritelli
- Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia
- Clinical-based Human Research Department, Foundation COME Collaboration, Pescara, Italy
| | - Jorge E. Esteves
- Clinical-based Human Research Department, Foundation COME Collaboration, Pescara, Italy
- Research Department, University College of Osteopathy, London, United Kingdom
- International College of Osteopathic Medicine, Malta, Italy
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An active inference account of protective behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 21:1117-1129. [PMID: 34652601 PMCID: PMC8518276 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-021-00947-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Newly emerging infectious diseases, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19), create new challenges for public healthcare systems. Before effective treatments, countering the spread of these infections depends on mitigating, protective behaviours such as social distancing, respecting lockdown, wearing masks, frequent handwashing, travel restrictions, and vaccine acceptance. Previous work has shown that the enacting protective behaviours depends on beliefs about individual vulnerability, threat severity, and one’s ability to engage in such protective actions. However, little is known about the genesis of these beliefs in response to an infectious disease epidemic, and the cognitive mechanisms that may link these beliefs to decision making. Active inference (AI) is a recent approach to behavioural modelling that integrates embodied perception, action, belief updating, and decision making. This approach provides a framework to understand the behaviour of agents in situations that require planning under uncertainty. It assumes that the brain infers the hidden states that cause sensations, predicts the perceptual feedback produced by adaptive actions, and chooses actions that minimize expected surprise in the future. In this paper, we present a computational account describing how individuals update their beliefs about the risks and thereby commit to protective behaviours. We show how perceived risks, beliefs about future states, sensory uncertainty, and outcomes under each policy can determine individual protective behaviours. We suggest that these mechanisms are crucial to assess how individuals cope with uncertainty during a pandemic, and we show the interest of these new perspectives for public health policies.
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Rorot W. Bayesian theories of consciousness: a review in search for a minimal unifying model. Neurosci Conscious 2021; 2021:niab038. [PMID: 34650816 PMCID: PMC8512254 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niab038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Revised: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The goal of the paper is to review existing work on consciousness within the frameworks of Predictive Processing, Active Inference, and Free Energy Principle. The emphasis is put on the role played by the precision and complexity of the internal generative model. In the light of those proposals, these two properties appear to be the minimal necessary components for the emergence of conscious experience-a Minimal Unifying Model of consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wiktor Rorot
- Faculty of Philosophy and Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 3, 00-927, Stawki 5/7, Warsaw 00-183, Poland
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Fox S. Future-Proofing Startups: Stress Management Principles Based on Adaptive Calibration Model and Active Inference Theory. ENTROPY 2021; 23:e23091155. [PMID: 34573780 PMCID: PMC8468633 DOI: 10.3390/e23091155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Revised: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, the Adaptive Calibration Model (ACM) and Active Inference Theory (AIT) are related to future-proofing startups. ACM encompasses the allocation of energy by the stress response system to alternative options for action, depending upon individuals’ life histories and changing external contexts. More broadly, within AIT, it is posited that humans survive by taking action to align their internal generative models with sensory inputs from external states. The first contribution of the paper is to address the need for future-proofing methods for startups by providing eight stress management principles based on ACM and AIT. Future-proofing methods are needed because, typically, nine out of ten startups do not survive. A second contribution is to relate ACM and AIT to startup life cycle stages. The third contribution is to provide practical examples that show the broader relevance ACM and AIT to organizational practice. These contributions go beyond previous literature concerned with entrepreneurial stress and organizational stress. In particular, rather than focusing on particular stressors, this paper is focused on the recalibrating/updating of startups’ stress responsivity patterns in relation to changes in the internal state of the startup and/or changes in the external state. Overall, the paper makes a contribution to relating physics of life constructs concerned with energy, action and ecological fitness to human organizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Fox
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, FI-02150 Espoo, Finland
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36
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Deane G. Consciousness in active inference: Deep self-models, other minds, and the challenge of psychedelic-induced ego-dissolution. Neurosci Conscious 2021; 2021:niab024. [PMID: 34484808 PMCID: PMC8408766 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niab024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Revised: 07/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Predictive processing approaches to brain function are increasingly delivering promise for illuminating the computational underpinnings of a wide range of phenomenological states. It remains unclear, however, whether predictive processing is equipped to accommodate a theory of consciousness itself. Furthermore, objectors have argued that without specification of the core computational mechanisms of consciousness, predictive processing is unable to inform the attribution of consciousness to other non-human (biological and artificial) systems. In this paper, I argue that an account of consciousness in the predictive brain is within reach via recent accounts of phenomenal self-modelling in the active inference framework. The central claim here is that phenomenal consciousness is underpinned by 'subjective valuation'-a deep inference about the precision or 'predictability' of the self-evidencing ('fitness-promoting') outcomes of action. Based on this account, I argue that this approach can critically inform the distribution of experience in other systems, paying particular attention to the complex sensory attenuation mechanisms associated with deep self-models. I then consider an objection to the account: several recent papers argue that theories of consciousness that invoke self-consciousness as constitutive or necessary for consciousness are undermined by states (or traits) of 'selflessness'; in particular the 'totally selfless' states of ego-dissolution occasioned by psychedelic drugs. Drawing on existing work that accounts for psychedelic-induced ego-dissolution in the active inference framework, I argue that these states do not threaten to undermine an active inference theory of consciousness. Instead, these accounts corroborate the view that subjective valuation is the constitutive facet of experience, and they highlight the potential of psychedelic research to inform consciousness science, computational psychiatry and computational phenomenology.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Deane
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UK
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Sandved-Smith L, Hesp C, Mattout J, Friston K, Lutz A, Ramstead MJD. Towards a computational phenomenology of mental action: modelling meta-awareness and attentional control with deep parametric active inference. Neurosci Conscious 2021; 2021:niab018. [PMID: 34457352 PMCID: PMC8396119 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niab018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2020] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Meta-awareness refers to the capacity to explicitly notice the current content of consciousness and has been identified as a key component for the successful control of cognitive states, such as the deliberate direction of attention. This paper proposes a formal model of meta-awareness and attentional control using hierarchical active inference. To do so, we cast mental action as policy selection over higher-level cognitive states and add a further hierarchical level to model meta-awareness states that modulate the expected confidence (precision) in the mapping between observations and hidden cognitive states. We simulate the example of mind-wandering and its regulation during a task involving sustained selective attention on a perceptual object. This provides a computational case study for an inferential architecture that is apt to enable the emergence of these central components of human phenomenology, namely, the ability to access and control cognitive states. We propose that this approach can be generalized to other cognitive states, and hence, this paper provides the first steps towards the development of a computational phenomenology of mental action and more broadly of our ability to monitor and control our own cognitive states. Future steps of this work will focus on fitting the model with qualitative, behavioural, and neural data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars Sandved-Smith
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon 1 University, 95 Bd Pinel, Lyon 69500, France
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Casper Hesp
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam 1098 XH, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Centre, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam 1098 XH, Netherlands
- Institute for Advanced Study, University of Amsterdam, Oude Turfmarkt 147, Amsterdam 1012 GC, Netherlands
| | - Jérémie Mattout
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon 1 University, 95 Bd Pinel, Lyon 69500, France
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Antoine Lutz
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon 1 University, 95 Bd Pinel, Lyon 69500, France
| | - Maxwell J D Ramstead
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
- Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, 1033 Pine Ave W, QC H3A 1A1, Canada
- Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, McGill University, Montreal, 1033 Pine Ave W, QC H3A 1A1, Canada
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38
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Tison R, Poirier P. Communication as Socially Extended Active Inference: An Ecological Approach to Communicative Behavior. ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/10407413.2021.1965480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
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Tison R, Poirier P. Active Inference and Cooperative Communication: An Ecological Alternative to the Alignment View. Front Psychol 2021; 12:708780. [PMID: 34456822 PMCID: PMC8397515 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.708780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
We present and contrast two accounts of cooperative communication, both based on Active Inference, a framework that unifies biological and cognitive processes. The mental alignment account, defended in Vasil et al., takes the function of cooperative communication to be the alignment of the interlocutor's mental states, and cooperative communicative behavior to be driven by an evolutionarily selected adaptive prior belief favoring the selection of action policies that promote such an alignment. We argue that the mental alignment account should be rejected because it neglects the action-oriented nature of cooperative communication, which skews its view of the dynamics of communicative interaction. We introduce our own conception of cooperative communication, inspired by a more radical ecological interpretation of the active inference framework. Cooperative communication, on our ecological conception, serves to guide and constrain the dynamics of the cooperative interaction via the construction and restructuring of shared fields of affordances, in order to reach the local goals of the joint actions in which episodes of cooperative communication are embedded. We argue that our ecological conception provides a better theoretical standpoint to account for the action-oriented nature of cooperative communication in the active inference framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rémi Tison
- Department of Philosophy, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Montreal, QC, Canada
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40
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Pianzola F, Riva G, Kukkonen K, Mantovani F. Presence, flow, and narrative absorption: an interdisciplinary theoretical exploration with a new spatiotemporal integrated model based on predictive processing. OPEN RESEARCH EUROPE 2021; 1:28. [PMID: 37645177 PMCID: PMC10446082 DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.13193.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/16/2021] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Presence, flow, narrative absorption, immersion, transportation, and similar subjective phenomena are studied in many different disciplines, mostly in relation to mediated experiences (books, film, VR, games). Moreover, since real, virtual, or fictional agents are often involved, concepts like identification and state empathy are often linked to engaging media use. Based on a scoping review that identified similarities in the wording of various questionnaire items conceived to measure different phenomena, we categorize items into the most relevant psychological aspects and use this categorization to propose an interdisciplinary systematization. Then, based on a framework of embodied predictive processing, we present a new cognitive model of presence-related phenomena for mediated and non-mediated experiences, integrating spatial and temporal aspects and also considering the role of fiction and media design. Key processes described within the model are: selective attention, enactment of intentions, and interoception. We claim that presence is the state of perceived successful agency of an embodied mind able to correctly enact its predictions. The difference between real-life and simulated experiences ("book problem," "paradox of fiction") lays in the different precision weighting of exteroceptive and interoceptive signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Pianzola
- Department of Human Sciences for Education "R. Massa", University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- School of Media, Arts and Science, Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Giuseppe Riva
- Department of Psychology, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
- Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy
| | - Karin Kukkonen
- Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Language, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Fabrizia Mantovani
- Department of Human Sciences for Education "R. Massa", University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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Abstract
In this paper I offer an overview of the possible links between psychoanalytical metapsychology and contemporary work in neuroscience concerning entropy and the free energy principle. After briefly describing the theory of living systems put forward by the neuroscientist Karl Friston based on the notion of entropy, we sum up the use of the notion of free energy by Friston and Freud. I then analyze how these notions improve the intelligibility of psychic functioning and can be associated with several psychoanalytical concepts, in particular the death drive. I approach from the same perspective the regulation of free energy associated with psychic envelopes and early intersubjectivity. It thus appears that the psychic apparatus can be considered at its different levels, from the most primary to the most secondary, as having the essential function of reducing entropy and free energy. Various forms of "failure" of this process of linking, regulation and transformation of energy within the psychic apparatus could be considered as the origin of different psychopathological manifestations as suggested in the last part of this paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Rabeyron
- Psychology Department, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France
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42
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Albarracin M, Constant A, Friston KJ, Ramstead MJD. A Variational Approach to Scripts. Front Psychol 2021; 12:585493. [PMID: 34354621 PMCID: PMC8329037 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.585493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
This paper proposes a formal reconstruction of the script construct by leveraging the active inference framework, a behavioral modeling framework that casts action, perception, emotions, and attention as processes of (Bayesian or variational) inference. We propose a first principles account of the script construct that integrates its different uses in the behavioral and social sciences. We begin by reviewing the recent literature that uses the script construct. We then examine the main mathematical and computational features of active inference. Finally, we leverage the resources of active inference to offer a formal model of scripts. Our integrative model accounts for the dual nature of scripts (as internal, psychological schema used by agents to make sense of event types and as constitutive behavioral categories that make up the social order) and also for the stronger and weaker conceptions of the construct (which do and do not relate to explicit action sequences, respectively).
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahault Albarracin
- Département d’informatique Cognitive, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Axel Constant
- Division of Social Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Karl J. Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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43
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Friedman DA, Tschantz A, Ramstead MJD, Friston K, Constant A. Active Inferants: An Active Inference Framework for Ant Colony Behavior. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:647732. [PMID: 34248515 PMCID: PMC8264549 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.647732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper, we introduce an active inference model of ant colony foraging behavior, and implement the model in a series of in silico experiments. Active inference is a multiscale approach to behavioral modeling that is being applied across settings in theoretical biology and ethology. The ant colony is a classic case system in the function of distributed systems in terms of stigmergic decision-making and information sharing. Here we specify and simulate a Markov decision process (MDP) model for ant colony foraging. We investigate a well-known paradigm from laboratory ant colony behavioral experiments, the alternating T-maze paradigm, to illustrate the ability of the model to recover basic colony phenomena such as trail formation after food location discovery. We conclude by outlining how the active inference ant colony foraging behavioral model can be extended and situated within a nested multiscale framework and systems approaches to biology more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Ari Friedman
- Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
- Active Inference Lab, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Alec Tschantz
- Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
- Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Maxwell J. D. Ramstead
- Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Spatial Web Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Axel Constant
- Theory and Method in Biosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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44
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Fox S. Psychomotor Predictive Processing. ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2021; 23:806. [PMID: 34202804 PMCID: PMC8303599 DOI: 10.3390/e23070806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Psychomotor experience can be based on what people predict they will experience, rather than on sensory inputs. It has been argued that disconnects between human experience and sensory inputs can be addressed better through further development of predictive processing theory. In this paper, the scope of predictive processing theory is extended through three developments. First, by going beyond previous studies that have encompassed embodied cognition but have not addressed some fundamental aspects of psychomotor functioning. Second, by proposing a scientific basis for explaining predictive processing that spans objective neuroscience and subjective experience. Third, by providing an explanation of predictive processing that can be incorporated into the planning and operation of systems involving robots and other new technologies. This is necessary because such systems are becoming increasingly common and move us farther away from the hunter-gatherer lifestyles within which our psychomotor functioning evolved. For example, beliefs that workplace robots are threatening can generate anxiety, while wearing hardware, such as augmented reality headsets and exoskeletons, can impede the natural functioning of psychomotor systems. The primary contribution of the paper is the introduction of a new formulation of hierarchical predictive processing that is focused on psychomotor functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Fox
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, FI-02150 Espoo, Finland
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45
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Nave O, Trautwein FM, Ataria Y, Dor-Ziderman Y, Schweitzer Y, Fulder S, Berkovich-Ohana A. Self-Boundary Dissolution in Meditation: A Phenomenological Investigation. Brain Sci 2021; 11:819. [PMID: 34205621 PMCID: PMC8235013 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11060819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2021] [Revised: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
A fundamental aspect of the sense of self is its pre-reflective dimension specifying the self as a bounded and embodied knower and agent. Being a constant and tacit feature structuring consciousness, it eludes robust empirical exploration. Recently, deep meditative states involving global dissolution of the sense of self have been suggested as a promising path for advancing such an investigation. To that end, we conducted a comprehensive phenomenological inquiry into meditative self-boundary alteration. The induced states were systematically characterized by changes in six experiential features including the sense of location, agency, first-person perspective, attention, body sensations, and affective valence, as well as their interaction with meditative technique and overall degree of dissolution. Quantitative analyses of the relationships between these phenomenological categories highlighted a unitary dimension of boundary dissolution. Notably, passive meditative gestures of "letting go", which reduce attentional engagement and sense of agency, emerged as driving the depth of dissolution. These findings are aligned with an enactive approach to the pre-reflective sense of self, linking its generation to sensorimotor activity and attention-demanding processes. Moreover, they set the stage for future phenomenologically informed analyses of neurophysiological data and highlight the utility of combining phenomenology and intense contemplative training for a scientific characterization of processes giving rise to the basic sense of being a bounded self.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ohad Nave
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 9190501, Israel
| | - Fynn-Mathis Trautwein
- Edmond Safra Brain Research Center, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel; (F.-M.T.); (Y.D.-Z.); (Y.S.)
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
- Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, 79098 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| | - Yochai Ataria
- Psychology Department, Tel-Hai Academic College, Qiryat Shemona 1220800, Israel;
| | - Yair Dor-Ziderman
- Edmond Safra Brain Research Center, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel; (F.-M.T.); (Y.D.-Z.); (Y.S.)
- The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Yoav Schweitzer
- Edmond Safra Brain Research Center, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel; (F.-M.T.); (Y.D.-Z.); (Y.S.)
- The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
- Department of Learning, Instruction and Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Stephen Fulder
- The Israel Insight Society (Tovana), Kibbutz Ein-Dor, R.D. Izrael 1933500, Israel;
| | - Aviva Berkovich-Ohana
- Edmond Safra Brain Research Center, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel; (F.-M.T.); (Y.D.-Z.); (Y.S.)
- The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
- Department of Learning, Instruction and Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
- Department of Counseling and Human Development, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
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Vaisvaser S. The Embodied-Enactive-Interactive Brain: Bridging Neuroscience and Creative Arts Therapies. Front Psychol 2021; 12:634079. [PMID: 33995190 PMCID: PMC8121022 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.634079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The recognition and incorporation of evidence-based neuroscientific concepts into creative arts therapeutic knowledge and practice seem valuable and advantageous for the purpose of integration and professional development. Moreover, exhilarating insights from the field of neuroscience coincide with the nature, conceptualization, goals, and methods of Creative Arts Therapies (CATs), enabling comprehensive understandings of the clinical landscape, from a translational perspective. This paper contextualizes and discusses dynamic brain functions that have been suggested to lie at the heart of intra- and inter-personal processes. Touching upon fundamental aspects of the self and self-other interaction, the state-of-the-art neuroscientific-informed views will shed light on mechanisms of the embodied, predictive and relational brain. The conceptual analysis introduces and interweaves the following contemporary perspectives of brain function: firstly, the grounding of mental activity in the lived, bodily experience will be delineated; secondly, the enactive account of internal models, or generative predictive representations, shaped by experience, will be defined and extensively deliberated; and thirdly, the interpersonal simulation and synchronization mechanisms that support empathy and mentalization will be thoroughly considered. Throughout the paper, the cross-talks between the brain and the body, within the brain through functionally connected neural networks and in the context of agent-environment dynamics, will be addressed. These communicative patterns will be elaborated on to unfold psychophysiological linkage, as well as psychopathological shifts, concluding with the neuroplastic change associated with the formulation of CATs. The manuscript suggests an integrative view of the brain-body-mind in contexts relevant to the therapeutic potential of the expressive creative arts and the main avenues by which neuroscience may ground, enlighten and enrich the clinical psychotherapeutic practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharon Vaisvaser
- School of Society and the Arts, Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel
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Ciria A, Schillaci G, Pezzulo G, Hafner VV, Lara B. Predictive Processing in Cognitive Robotics: A Review. Neural Comput 2021; 33:1402-1432. [PMID: 34496394 DOI: 10.1162/neco_a_01383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Predictive processing has become an influential framework in cognitive sciences. This framework turns the traditional view of perception upside down, claiming that the main flow of information processing is realized in a top-down, hierarchical manner. Furthermore, it aims at unifying perception, cognition, and action as a single inferential process. However, in the related literature, the predictive processing framework and its associated schemes, such as predictive coding, active inference, perceptual inference, and free-energy principle, tend to be used interchangeably. In the field of cognitive robotics, there is no clear-cut distinction on which schemes have been implemented and under which assumptions. In this letter, working definitions are set with the main aim of analyzing the state of the art in cognitive robotics research working under the predictive processing framework as well as some related nonrobotic models. The analysis suggests that, first, research in both cognitive robotics implementations and nonrobotic models needs to be extended to the study of how multiple exteroceptive modalities can be integrated into prediction error minimization schemes. Second, a relevant distinction found here is that cognitive robotics implementations tend to emphasize the learning of a generative model, while in nonrobotics models, it is almost absent. Third, despite the relevance for active inference, few cognitive robotics implementations examine the issues around control and whether it should result from the substitution of inverse models with proprioceptive predictions. Finally, limited attention has been placed on precision weighting and the tracking of prediction error dynamics. These mechanisms should help to explore more complex behaviors and tasks in cognitive robotics research under the predictive processing framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandra Ciria
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, CP 04510, Mexico
| | - Guido Schillaci
- BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, 34 56025 Pontedera, Italy
| | - Giovanni Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, 44 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Verena V Hafner
- Adaptive Systems Group, Department of Computer Science, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-12489, Germany
| | - Bruno Lara
- Laboratorio de Robótica Cognitiva, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca CP 62209, Mexico
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Harré MS. Information Theory for Agents in Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, and Economics. ENTROPY 2021; 23:e23030310. [PMID: 33800724 PMCID: PMC8001993 DOI: 10.3390/e23030310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2021] [Revised: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
This review looks at some of the central relationships between artificial intelligence, psychology, and economics through the lens of information theory, specifically focusing on formal models of decision-theory. In doing so we look at a particular approach that each field has adopted and how information theory has informed the development of the ideas of each field. A key theme is expected utility theory, its connection to information theory, the Bayesian approach to decision-making and forms of (bounded) rationality. What emerges from this review is a broadly unified formal perspective derived from three very different starting points that reflect the unique principles of each field. Each of the three approaches reviewed can, in principle at least, be implemented in a computational model in such a way that, with sufficient computational power, they could be compared with human abilities in complex tasks. However, a central critique that can be applied to all three approaches was first put forward by Savage in The Foundations of Statistics and recently brought to the fore by the economist Binmore: Bayesian approaches to decision-making work in what Savage called ‘small worlds’ but cannot work in ‘large worlds’. This point, in various different guises, is central to some of the current debates about the power of artificial intelligence and its relationship to human-like learning and decision-making. Recent work on artificial intelligence has gone some way to bridging this gap but significant questions remain to be answered in all three fields in order to make progress in producing realistic models of human decision-making in the real world in which we live in.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael S Harré
- Complex Systems Research Group, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia
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The Natural Philosophy of Economic Information: Autonomous Agents and Physiosemiosis. ENTROPY 2021; 23:e23030277. [PMID: 33669029 PMCID: PMC7996504 DOI: 10.3390/e23030277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Revised: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Information is a core concept in modern economics, yet its definition and empirical specification is elusive. One reason is the intellectual grip of the Shannon paradigm which marginalizes semantic information. However, a precise concept of economic information must be based on a theory of semantics, since what counts economically is the meaning, function and use of information. This paper introduces a new principled approach to information that adopts the paradigm of biosemiotics, rooted in the philosophy of Charles S. Peirce and builds on recent developments of the thermodynamics of information. Information processing by autonomous agents, defined as autopoietic heat engines, is conceived as physiosemiosis operating according to fundamental thermodynamic principles of information processing, as elucidated in recent work by Kolchinsky and Wolpert (KW). I plug the KW approach into a basic conceptual model of physiosemiosis and present an evolutionary interpretation. This approach has far-reaching implications for economics, such as suggesting an evolutionary view of the economic agent, choice and behavior, which is informed by applications of statistical thermodynamics on the brain.
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