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The modularity of action and perception revisited using control theory and active inference

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conference contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 14:56 authored by Manuel Baltieri, Christopher BuckleyChristopher Buckley
The assumption that action and perception can be investigated independently is entrenched in theories, models and experimental approaches across the brain and mind sciences. In cognitive science, this has been a central point of contention between computationalist and 4Es (enactive, embodied, extended and embedded) theories of cognition, with the former embracing the “classical sandwich”, modular, architecture of the mind and the latter actively denying this separation can be made. In this work we suggest that the modular independence of action and perception strongly resonates with the separation principle of control theory and furthermore that this principle provides formal criteria within which to evaluate the implications of the modularity of action and perception. We will also see that real-time feedback with the environment, often considered necessary for the definition of 4Es ideas, is not however a sufficient condition to avoid the “classical sandwich”. Finally, we argue that an emerging framework in the cognitive and brain sciences, active inference, extends ideas derived from control theory to the study of biological systems while disposing of the separation principle, describing non-modular models of behaviour strongly aligned with 4Es theories of cognition.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference (ALIFE 2018)

Publisher

MIT Press

Event name

ALIFE 2018

Event location

Tokyo, Japan

Event type

conference

Event date

July 23-27

Department affiliated with

  • Informatics Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems Research Group Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Editors

Olaf Witkowski, Natheniel Virgo, Reiji Suzuki, Takashi Ikegami, Mizuki Oka, Iizuka Hiroyuki

Legacy Posted Date

2018-09-07

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2018-09-07

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-09-05

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