Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T19:35:10.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Against free energy, for direct perception

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2022

Thomas A. Stoffregen Open the ORCID record for Thomas A. Stoffregen [Opens in a new window]  and
Robert Heath
Thomas A. Stoffregen
Affiliation:
The School of Kinesiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, [email protected]://apal.umn.edu/
Robert Heath
Affiliation:
Hiawatha Valley Education District, Winona, MN 55987, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We question the free energy principle (FEP) as it is used in contemporary physics. If the FEP is incorrect in physics, then it cannot ground the authors' arguments. We also question the assumption that perception requires inference. We argue that perception (including perception of social affordances) can be direct, in which case inference is not required.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e212
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anthony, D. W. (2007). The horse, the wheel, and language. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400831104Google Scholar
Bergson, H. (1999). Duration and simultaneity. Trans. Jacobson, Leon. Clinaman Press. (Original work published in 1922).Google Scholar
Bruineberg, J., Chemero, A., & Rietveld, E. (2019). General ecological information supports engagement with affordances for “higher” cognition. Synthese, 196, 5231–5251. doi:10.1007/s11229-018-1716-9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campos, J. J., Anderson, D. I., Barbu-Roth, M., Hubbard, E. M., Hertenstein, M. J., & Witherington, D. (2000). Travel broadens the mind. Infancy, 1, 149–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cirelli, L. K. (2018). How interpersonal synchrony facilitates early prosocial behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 20, 35–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.009CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colombo, M., & Palacios, P. (2021). Non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the free energy principle in biology. Biology & Philosophy, 36, 41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-021-09818-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friston, K. J. (2013). Life as we know it. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 10, 20130475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, R. W., Lima, P. L. C., & Francozo, E. (2004). Metaphor is grounded in embodied experience. Journal of Pragmatics, 36, 1189–1210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J. J. (1966). The senses considered as perceptual systems. Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar
Gibson, J. J. (1975). Events are perceivable but time is not. In Fraser, J. T. & Lawrence, N. (Eds.), The study of time II (pp. 295–301). Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar
Nonaka, T., & Stoffregen, T. A. (2020). Social interaction in the emergence of toddler's mealtime spoon use. Developmental Psychobiology, 62, 1124–1133. doi:10.1002/dev.21978CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raja, V., Valluri, D., Baggs, E., Chemero, A., & Anderson, M. L. (2021). The Markov blanket trick: On the scope of the free energy principle and active inference. Physics of Life Reviews, 39, 49–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2021.09.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reed, E. S. (1996). Encountering the world: Toward an ecological psychology. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Richardson, M. J., Marsh, K. L., & Baron, R. M. (2007). Judging and actualizing intrapersonal and interpersonal affordances. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 33, 845–859. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.33.4.845Google ScholarPubMed
Robbins, S. E. (2014). The mists of special relativity: Time, consciousness, and a deep illusion in physics. CreateSpace.Google Scholar
Rosen, R. (1991). Life itself. A comprehensive inquiry into the nature, origin, and fabrication of life. Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Schrodinger, E. (1952a). Are there quantum jumps? Part I. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 3, 109–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrodinger, E. (1952b). Are there quantum jumps? Part II. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 3, 233–242. doi:10.1093/bjps/III.11.233CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoffregen, T. A., & Bardy, B. G. (2001). On specification and the senses. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 195–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoffregen, T. A., Mantel, B., & Bardy, B. G. (2017). The senses considered as one perceptual system. Ecological Psychology, 29, 165–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turvey, M. T. (2019). Lectures on perception: An ecological perspective. Routledge.Google Scholar
Unnikrishnan, C. S. (2020). A new gravitational paradigm for relativity and dynamics, and its philosophical scope. Journal of Physics, Conference Series, 1466, 012007. doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/1466/1/012007CrossRefGoogle Scholar