How do neural systems use probabilistic inference that is context-sensitive to create and preserve organized complexity?

Citation

Phillips W (2012) How do neural systems use probabilistic inference that is context-sensitive to create and preserve organized complexity?. In: Simeonov P, Smith L & Ehresmann A (eds.) Integral Biomathics: Tracing the Road to Reality. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 63-69. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-28111-2_7; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28111-2_7

Abstract
This paper claims that biological systems will more effectively create organized complexity if they use probabilistic inference that is context-sensitive. It argues that neural systems combine local reliability with flexible, holistic, context-sensitivity, and a theory, Coherent Infomax, showing, in principle, how this can be done is outlined. Ways in which that theory needs further development are noted, and its relation to Friston’s theory of free energy reduction is discussed.

Keywords
self-organization; complexity; probabilistic inference; induction; neural systems; Coherent Infomax; context-sensitivity

People

Professor Bill Phillips

Emeritus Professor, Psychology