Psychophysical identity and free energy
Alex Kiefer
Abstract
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.
Topics & Concepts
Identity (music)Gestalt psychologyIsomorphism (crystallography)Energy (signal processing)Free energy principleGenerative grammarInferenceThermodynamic integrationGenerative modelComputer sciencePopulationEncoding (memory)Bayes' theoremBayesian inferenceStatistical physicsArtificial intelligenceMathematicsBayesian probabilityPsychologyPhysicsMachine learningNeuroscienceChemistryStatisticsSociologyCrystal structurePerceptionDemographyAcousticsCrystallographyNeural dynamics and brain functionEmbodied and Extended CognitionOrigins and Evolution of Life