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Predictive coding and thought

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Abstract

Predictive processing has recently been advanced as a global cognitive architecture for the brain. I argue that its commitments concerning the nature and format of cognitive representation are inadequate to account for two basic characteristics of conceptual thought: first, its generality--the fact that we can think and flexibly reason about phenomena at any level of spatial and temporal scale and abstraction; second, its rich compositionality--the specific way in which concepts productively combine to yield our thoughts. I consider two strategies for avoiding these objections and I argue that both confront formidable challenges.

Description

Keywords

Predictive processing, Predictive coding, Free-energy principle, Probabilistic graphical model, Hierarchical probabilistic generative model, Concepts, Thought, Higher cognition, Bayesian brain

Journal Title

Synthese

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0039-7857
1573-0964

Volume Title

197

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
AHRC (1653062)