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. Cover Preface - Friston 1 Overview 2 The Low Road to Active Inference 3 The High Road to Active Inference 4 The Generative Models of Active Inference 5 Message Passing and Neurobiology 6 A Recipe for Designing Active Inference Models 7 Active inference in Discrete Time 8 Active Inference in Continuous Time 9 Model-Based Data Analysis 10 Active Inference as a Unified Theory of Sentient Behavior Appendix A: Mathematical Background Appendix B: The Equations of Active Inference Appendix C: An Annotated Example of the Matlab Code Notes References Index The low road to active inference -- The high road to active inference -- The generative models of active inference -- Message passing and neurobiology -- A recipe for designing active inference models -- Active inference in discrete time -- Active inference in continuous time -- Model based data analysis -- Active inference as a unified theory of sentient behaviour "A much-needed synthesis of active inference, a theory of mind that addresses cognition, behavior, intelligence, & mental disorders and which can be extended to explain behavior in all living systems"-- Provided by publisher
