Psychophysical identity and free energy

An approach to implementing variational Bayesian inference in biological systems is considered, under which the thermodynamic free energy of a system directly encodes its variational free energy. In the case of the brain, this assumption places constraints on the neuronal encoding of generative and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Royal Society interface 2020-08, Vol.17 (169), p.20200370-20200370
Main Author: Kiefer, Alex B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bayes Theorem
Brain
Life Sciences–Mathematics interface
Neurons
Thermodynamics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An approach to implementing variational Bayesian inference in biological systems is considered, under which the thermodynamic free energy of a system directly encodes its variational free energy. In the case of the brain, this assumption places constraints on the neuronal encoding of generative and recognition densities, in particular requiring a stochastic population code. The resulting relationship between thermodynamic and variational free energies is prefigured in mind-brain identity theses in philosophy and in the Gestalt hypothesis of psychophysical isomorphism.
ISSN:1742-5689
1742-5662
DOI:10.1098/rsif.2020.0370