title: Active Inference, homeostatic regulation and adaptive behavioural control.
abstract: We review a theory of homeostatic regulation and adaptive behavioural control within the Active Inference framework. Our aim is to connect two research streams that are usually considered independently; namely, Active Inference and associative learning theories of animal behaviour. The former uses a probabilistic (Bayesian) formulation of perception and action, while the latter calls on multiple (Pavlovian, habitual, goal-directed) processes for homeostatic and behavioural control. We offer a synthesis these classical processes and cast them as successive hierarchical contextualisations of sensorimotor constructs, using the generative models that underpin Active Inference. This dissolves any apparent mechanistic distinction between the optimization processes that mediate classical control or learning. Furthermore, we generalize the scope of Active Inference by emphasizing interoceptive inference and homeostatic regulation. The ensuing homeostatic (or allostatic) perspective provides an intuitive explanation for how priors act as drives or goals to enslave action, and emphasises the embodied nature of inference.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: giovanni.pezzulo@istc.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pezzulo
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust, UCL, London, UK.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rigoli
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust, UCL, London, UK.
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Friston
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008960:Models, Psychological
keywords: Active Inference; Adaptive control; Homeostatic regulation; Model-based control; Model-free control; Pavlovian control