Badcock, PB;
Friston, KJ;
Ramstead, MJD;
(2019)
The hierarchically mechanistic mind: A free-energy formulation of the human psyche.
Physics of Life Reviews
10.1016/j.plrev.2018.10.002.
(In press).
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Abstract
This article presents a unifying theory of the embodied, situated human brain called the Hierarchically Mechanistic Mind (HMM). The HMM describes the brain as a complex adaptive system that actively minimises the decay of our sensory and physical states by producing self-fulfilling action-perception cycles via dynamical interactions between hierarchically organised neurocognitive mechanisms. This theory synthesises the free-energy principle (FEP) in neuroscience with an evolutionary systems theory of psychology that explains our brains, minds, and behaviour by appealing to Tinbergen's four questions: adaptation, phylogeny, ontogeny, and mechanism. After leveraging the FEP to formally define the HMM across different spatiotemporal scales, we conclude by exploring its implications for theorising and research in the sciences of the mind and behaviour.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The hierarchically mechanistic mind: A free-energy formulation of the human psyche |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.plrev.2018.10.002 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2018.10.002 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Active inference, Evolutionary systems theory, Free-energy principle, Hierarchically mechanistic mind, Neuroscience, Psychology |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Imaging Neuroscience |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10067315 |
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