2017/05/18 by Biswa Sengupta, Karl Friston, Sengupta, Biswa +1 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Environmental Science · Neuroscience · #Ecosystem dynamics and resilience #FOS: Biological sciences #Neural dynamics and brain function #Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC) #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #q-bio.NC
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1705.08265
arxiv created 2017/05/18 · openalex publication_date 2017/05/18 · arxiv updated 2017/05/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence in neuroscience suggests that organisms represent or model their environment by minimizing a variational free-energy bound on the surprise associated with sensory signals from the environment. In this paper, we study phase transitions in coupled dissipative dynamical systems (complex Ginzburg-Landau equations) under a variety of coupling conditions to model the exchange of a system (agent) with its environment. We show that arbitrary coupling between sensory signals and the internal state of a system -- or those between its action and external (environmental) states -- do not guarantee synchronous dynamics between external and internal states: the spatial structure and the temporal dynamics of sensory signals and action (that comprise the system's Markov blanket) have to be pruned to produce synchrony. This synchrony is necessary for an agent to infer environmental states -- a pre-requisite for survival. Therefore, such sentient dynamics, relies primarily on approximate synchronization between the agent and its niche.