Active Inference: The Free Energy Principle in Mind, Brain, and Behavior


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The first comprehensive treatment of active inference, an integrative perspective on brain, cognition, and behavior used across multiple disciplines.

Active inference is a way of understanding sentient behavior--a theory that characterizes perception, planning, and action in terms of probabilistic inference. Developed by theoretical neuroscientist Karl Friston over years of groundbreaking research, active inference provides an integrated perspective on brain, cognition, and behavior that is increasingly used across multiple disciplines including neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. Active inference puts the action into perception. This book offers the first comprehensive treatment of active inference, covering theory, applications, and cognitive domains.

Active inference is a "first principles" approach to understanding behavior and the brain, framed in terms of a single imperative to minimize free energy. The book emphasizes the implications of the free energy principle for understanding how the brain works. It first introduces active inference both conceptually and formally, contextualizing it within current theories of cognition. It then provides specific examples of computational models that use active inference to explain such cognitive phenomena as perception, attention, memory, and planning.


Author: Thomas Parr, Giovanni Pezzulo, Karl J. Friston
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 03/29/2022
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.20w x 1.10d
ISBN13: 9780262045353
ISBN10: 0262045354
BISAC Categories:
- Science | Life Sciences | Neuroscience
- Psychology | Cognitive Neuroscience & Cognitive Neuropsychology
- Philosophy | Mind & Body

About the Author
Thomas Parr is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging at the Queen Square Institute of Neurology at University College London and a practicing clinician. Giovanni Pezzulo is a Researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the National Research Council of Italy in Rome. Karl J. Friston is Scientific Director of the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging and Professor at Queen Square Institute of Neurology at University College London.