Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33733186›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in artificial intelligence2020

A Bayesian Account of Generalist and Specialist Formation Under the Active Inference Framework.

Anthony G Chen, David Benrimoh, Thomas Parr, Karl J Friston

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in artificial intelligence, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Mechanisms of brain self-regulation: psychological factors, mechanistic models and neural substrates.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Understanding, Explanation, and Active Inference.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2021
    Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Anthony G ChenDepartment of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
David BenrimohDepartment of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Thomas ParrThe Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Karl J FristonThe Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
University College London · GBMcGill University · CAWellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This paper offers a formal account of policy learning, or habitual behavioral optimization, under the framework of Active Inference. In this setting, habit formation becomes an autodidactic, experience-dependent process, based upon what the agent sees itself doing. We focus on the effect of environmental volatility on habit formation by simulating artificial agents operating in a partially observable Markov decision process. Specifically, we used a "two-step" maze paradigm, in which the agent has to decide whether to go left or right to secure a reward. We observe that in volatile environments with numerous reward locations, the agents learn to adopt a generalist strategy, never forming a strong habitual behavior for any preferred maze direction. Conversely, in conservative or static environments, agents adopt a specialist strategy; forming strong preferences for policies that result in approach to a small number of previously-observed reward locations. The pros and cons of the two strategies are tested and discussed. In general, specialization offers greater benefits, but only when contingencies are conserved over time. We consider the implications of this formal (Active Inference) account of policy learning for understanding the relationship between specialization and habit formation.

Indexed as

active inferenceBayesiangenerative modellearning strategiespredictive processingpreferences

Identifiers

PMID33733186
PMCPMC7861269
OpenAlexW3083520193

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.