A World Unto Itself: Human Communication as Active Inference
Recent theoretical work in developmental psychology suggests that humans are predisposed to align their mental states with those of other individuals. One way this manifests is in cooperative communication; that is, intentional communication aimed at aligning individuals’ mental states with respect...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00417/full |
| _version_ | 1819126926958133248 |
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| author | Jared Vasil Paul B. Badcock Paul B. Badcock Paul B. Badcock Axel Constant Axel Constant Axel Constant Karl Friston Maxwell J. D. Ramstead Maxwell J. D. Ramstead Maxwell J. D. Ramstead |
| author_facet | Jared Vasil Paul B. Badcock Paul B. Badcock Paul B. Badcock Axel Constant Axel Constant Axel Constant Karl Friston Maxwell J. D. Ramstead Maxwell J. D. Ramstead Maxwell J. D. Ramstead |
| author_sort | Jared Vasil |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent theoretical work in developmental psychology suggests that humans are predisposed to align their mental states with those of other individuals. One way this manifests is in cooperative communication; that is, intentional communication aimed at aligning individuals’ mental states with respect to events in their shared environment. This idea has received strong empirical support. The purpose of this paper is to extend this account by proposing an integrative model of the biobehavioral dynamics of cooperative communication. Our formulation is based on active inference. Active inference suggests that action-perception cycles operate to minimize uncertainty and optimize an individual’s internal model of the world. We propose that humans are characterized by an evolved adaptive prior belief that their mental states are aligned with, or similar to, those of conspecifics (i.e., that ‘we are the same sort of creature, inhabiting the same sort of niche’). The use of cooperative communication emerges as the principal means to gather evidence for this belief, allowing for the development of a shared narrative that is used to disambiguate interactants’ (hidden and inferred) mental states. Thus, by using cooperative communication, individuals effectively attune to a hermeneutic niche composed, in part, of others’ mental states; and, reciprocally, attune the niche to their own ends via epistemic niche construction. This means that niche construction enables features of the niche to encode precise, reliable cues about the deontic or shared value of certain action policies (e.g., the utility of using communicative constructions to disambiguate mental states, given expectations about shared prior beliefs). In turn, the alignment of mental states (prior beliefs) enables the emergence of a novel, contextualizing scale of cultural dynamics that encompasses the actions and mental states of the ensemble of interactants and their shared environment. The dynamics of this contextualizing layer of cultural organization feedback, across scales, to constrain the variability of the prior expectations of the individuals who constitute it. Our theory additionally builds upon the active inference literature by introducing a new set of neurobiologically plausible computational hypotheses for cooperative communication. We conclude with directions for future research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:03:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c5a2b12109524d67a010f7ed42a3d061 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:03:48Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-c5a2b12109524d67a010f7ed42a3d0612022-12-21T18:33:12ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-03-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.00417480375A World Unto Itself: Human Communication as Active InferenceJared Vasil0Paul B. Badcock1Paul B. Badcock2Paul B. Badcock3Axel Constant4Axel Constant5Axel Constant6Karl Friston7Maxwell J. D. Ramstead8Maxwell J. D. Ramstead9Maxwell J. D. Ramstead10Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, United StatesCentre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaMelbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaOrygen, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaCharles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, AustraliaCulture, Mind, and Brain Program, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaWellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United KingdomWellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United KingdomCulture, Mind, and Brain Program, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaWellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United KingdomDivision of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaRecent theoretical work in developmental psychology suggests that humans are predisposed to align their mental states with those of other individuals. One way this manifests is in cooperative communication; that is, intentional communication aimed at aligning individuals’ mental states with respect to events in their shared environment. This idea has received strong empirical support. The purpose of this paper is to extend this account by proposing an integrative model of the biobehavioral dynamics of cooperative communication. Our formulation is based on active inference. Active inference suggests that action-perception cycles operate to minimize uncertainty and optimize an individual’s internal model of the world. We propose that humans are characterized by an evolved adaptive prior belief that their mental states are aligned with, or similar to, those of conspecifics (i.e., that ‘we are the same sort of creature, inhabiting the same sort of niche’). The use of cooperative communication emerges as the principal means to gather evidence for this belief, allowing for the development of a shared narrative that is used to disambiguate interactants’ (hidden and inferred) mental states. Thus, by using cooperative communication, individuals effectively attune to a hermeneutic niche composed, in part, of others’ mental states; and, reciprocally, attune the niche to their own ends via epistemic niche construction. This means that niche construction enables features of the niche to encode precise, reliable cues about the deontic or shared value of certain action policies (e.g., the utility of using communicative constructions to disambiguate mental states, given expectations about shared prior beliefs). In turn, the alignment of mental states (prior beliefs) enables the emergence of a novel, contextualizing scale of cultural dynamics that encompasses the actions and mental states of the ensemble of interactants and their shared environment. The dynamics of this contextualizing layer of cultural organization feedback, across scales, to constrain the variability of the prior expectations of the individuals who constitute it. Our theory additionally builds upon the active inference literature by introducing a new set of neurobiologically plausible computational hypotheses for cooperative communication. We conclude with directions for future research.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00417/fullcooperative communicationmental state alignmentevolutiondevelopmentactive inferenceadaptive prior |
| spellingShingle | Jared Vasil Paul B. Badcock Paul B. Badcock Paul B. Badcock Axel Constant Axel Constant Axel Constant Karl Friston Maxwell J. D. Ramstead Maxwell J. D. Ramstead Maxwell J. D. Ramstead A World Unto Itself: Human Communication as Active Inference Frontiers in Psychology cooperative communication mental state alignment evolution development active inference adaptive prior |
| title | A World Unto Itself: Human Communication as Active Inference |
| title_full | A World Unto Itself: Human Communication as Active Inference |
| title_fullStr | A World Unto Itself: Human Communication as Active Inference |
| title_full_unstemmed | A World Unto Itself: Human Communication as Active Inference |
| title_short | A World Unto Itself: Human Communication as Active Inference |
| title_sort | world unto itself human communication as active inference |
| topic | cooperative communication mental state alignment evolution development active inference adaptive prior |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00417/full |
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