eprintid: 10079658
rev_number: 27
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/10/07/96/58
datestamp: 2019-08-19 13:11:23
lastmod: 2021-10-18 00:41:15
status_changed: 2019-08-19 13:11:23
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Zeki, S
creators_name: Chén, OY
title: The Bayesian-Laplacian Brain
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B02
divisions: C08
divisions: D09
divisions: F96
keywords: Bayesian brain operations, aesthetic experiences, artifactual priors, biological priors, colour vision
note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: We outline what we believe could be an improvement in future discussions of the brain acting as a Bayesian‐Laplacian system. We do so by distinguishing between two broad classes of priors on which the brain's inferential systems operate: in one category are biological priors (β priors) and in the other artifactual ones (α priors). We argue that β priors, of which colour categories and faces are good examples, are inherited or acquired very rapidly after birth, are highly or relatively resistant to change through experience, and are common to all humans. The consequence is that the probability of posteriors generated from β priors having universal assent and agreement is high. By contrast, α priors, of which man‐made objects are examples, are acquired post‐natally and modified at various stages throughout post‐natal life; they are much more accommodating of, and hospitable to, new experiences. Consequently, posteriors generated from them are less likely to find universal assent. Taken together, in addition to the more limited capacity of experiment and experience to alter the β priors compared to α priors, another cardinal distinction between the two is that the probability of posteriors generated from β priors having universal agreement is greater than that for α priors. The two categories are distinct at the extremes; there is, however, a middle range where they merge into one another to varying extents, resulting in posteriors that draw upon both categories.
date: 2020-03
date_type: published
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.14540
oa_status: green
full_text_type: other
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1681345
doi: 10.1111/ejn.14540
lyricists_name: Zeki, Semir
lyricists_id: SLSZE59
actors_name: Austen, Jennifer
actors_id: JAUST66
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: European Journal of Neuroscience
volume: 51
number: 6
pagerange: 1441-1462
event_location: France
issn: 1460-9568
citation:        Zeki, S;    Chén, OY;      (2020)    The Bayesian-Laplacian Brain.                   European Journal of Neuroscience , 51  (6)   pp. 1441-1462.    10.1111/ejn.14540 <https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.14540>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10079658/3/Zeki%20The_Bayesian_brain__August%202.pdf