TY - JOUR
T1 - The growth of cognition: free energy minimization and the embryogenesis of cortical computation
AU - Wright, James
AU - Bourke, Paul
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - The assumption that during cortical embryogenesis neurons and synaptic connections are selected to form an ensemble maximising synchronous oscillation explains mesoscopic cortical development, and a mechanism for cortical information processing is implied by consistency with the Free Energy Principle and Dynamic Logic.A heteroclinic network emerges, with stable and unstable fixed points of oscillation corresponding to activity in symmetrically connected, versus asymmetrically connected, sets of neurons. Simulations of growth explain a wide range of anatomical observations for columnar and non-columnar cortex, superficial patch connections, and the organization and dynamic interactions of neurone response properties. An antenatal scaffold is created, upon which postnatal learning can establish continuously ordered neuronal representations, permitting matching of co-synchronous fields in multiple cortical areas to solve optimization problems as in Dynamic Logic. Fast synaptic competition partitions equilibria, minimizing “the curse of dimensionality”, while perturbations between imperfectly partitioned synchronous fields, under internal reinforcement, enable the cortex to become adaptively self-directed. As learning progresses variational free energy is minimized and entropy bounded.
AB - The assumption that during cortical embryogenesis neurons and synaptic connections are selected to form an ensemble maximising synchronous oscillation explains mesoscopic cortical development, and a mechanism for cortical information processing is implied by consistency with the Free Energy Principle and Dynamic Logic.A heteroclinic network emerges, with stable and unstable fixed points of oscillation corresponding to activity in symmetrically connected, versus asymmetrically connected, sets of neurons. Simulations of growth explain a wide range of anatomical observations for columnar and non-columnar cortex, superficial patch connections, and the organization and dynamic interactions of neurone response properties. An antenatal scaffold is created, upon which postnatal learning can establish continuously ordered neuronal representations, permitting matching of co-synchronous fields in multiple cortical areas to solve optimization problems as in Dynamic Logic. Fast synaptic competition partitions equilibria, minimizing “the curse of dimensionality”, while perturbations between imperfectly partitioned synchronous fields, under internal reinforcement, enable the cortex to become adaptively self-directed. As learning progresses variational free energy is minimized and entropy bounded.
KW - Free energy principle
KW - Cortical embryogenesis
KW - Synchronous oscillation
KW - Neuronal representation
KW - Dynamic logic
KW - Physics of the mind
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1571064520300154#!
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086092477&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.plrev.2020.05.004
DO - 10.1016/j.plrev.2020.05.004
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32527680
JO - Physics of Life Reviews
JF - Physics of Life Reviews
SN - 1571-0645
ER -