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arXiv · 2005.08935

Psychophysical identity and free energy

Alex B. Kiefer
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Abstract

An approach to implementing variational Bayesian inference in biological systems is considered, under which the thermodynamic free energy of a system directly encodes its variational free energy. In the case of the brain, this assumption places constraints on the neuronal encoding of generative and recognition densities, in particular requiring a stochastic population code. The resulting relationship between thermodynamic and variational free energies is prefigured in mind-brain identity theses in philosophy and in the Gestalt hypothesis of psychophysical isomorphism.

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Alex B. Kiefer. 2020-05-18. Psychophysical identity and free energy. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2020.0370

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