<p>I enjoy anything by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_J._Friston" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Karl Friston</a> and his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_energy_principle" rel="nofollow noreferrer">free-energy principle</a>. Given your example: it'd hold from the physical imperative to resist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">entropy</a>, the physiological imperative to maintain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeostasis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">homeostasis</a>, the biological imperative to survive, the information-theoretic imperative to reduce surprise, and the cognitive imperative to minimize prediction error all correspond to the same mechanics, to minimize free-energy of a thermodynamic system.</p>
<p>We as brain containing organisms are constantly trying to reduce the gulf between what we expect and what we sense, through either action, i.e. changing incoming sensations to match our model, or through perception, i.e. changing 'belief' within model to match incoming sensations. A common rebuttal is: why don't we try to consistently seek out a state of sensory deprivation? Well, the fundamental drive to human behavior is to generate our own intrinsic reward: the minimization of mathematical surprise, which includes an imperative to go out and explore. You can't eat without knowing how to hunt, what to hunt, where to hunt, etc etc etc, requiring all organisms to consistently reduce prediction error and maximize model evidence. This process can't happen inside a quiet, dark cave, you'd simply die (natural selection). Thus, evolution allowed our models to become increasingly more general, capable of more complex adaptive behavior, until our models modeled our models modeling the world around us. That's human intelligence for you in a nutshell.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-27T20:50:07.347Z
If you like this take, let's work together to reconstruct human intelligence bahaha.
kendall.tubbs
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-30T12:17:08.387Z
Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer).
Community
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-27T20:36:06.073Z
2023-01-30T18:47:19.273Z
2023-01-30T18:47:19.273Z
kendall.tubbs
<p>Dynamic systems analysis has recently made inroads into psychology.  <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2295" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Quirin et al.(2020)</a> consider adaptive processes and may be a place for you to start.</p>
<p>Quirin, M., Robinson, M. D., Rauthmann, J. F., Kuhl, J., &amp; Deyoung, C. G. (2020). The Dynamics of Personality Approach (DPA): Twenty Tenets for Uncovering the Causal Mechanisms of Personality. European Journal of Personality. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2295" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2295</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-30T15:56:05.350Z
2023-01-30T18:22:38.637Z
2023-01-30T18:22:38.637Z
Tony Mobbs
<p>Does anyone know some references (e.g. papers or book chapters) that discuss aspects of the adaptivity of human/animal based on studying the behavior and ideally, what computational objectives pertaining to the adaptivity of human/animal have been or can be suggested based on them?</p>
<p>An example: Animals should adapt to their environment to survive, they should develop whatever [computation] needed to detect the hunter and escape timely. They should update their internal model (whatever we define the internal model), with changes in their environment.</p>

<behavior>
Looking for references discussing aspect of human/animal adaptivity and its pertaining computational objectives
neuroprinciplist
# Looking for references discussing aspect of human/animal adaptivity and its pertaining computational objectives

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-08-29)

Does anyone know some references (e.g. papers or book chapters) that discuss aspects of the adaptivity of human/animal based on studying the behavior and ideally, what computational objectives pertaining to the adaptivity of human/animal have been or can be suggested based on them?

An example: Animals should adapt to their environment to survive, they should develop whatever [computation] needed to detect the hunter and escape timely. They should update their internal model (whatever we define the internal model), with changes in their environment.

**Tags:** behavior


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-01-27. Score: 1

I enjoy anything by [Karl Friston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_J._Friston) and his [free-energy principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_energy_principle). Given your example: it'd hold from the physical imperative to resist [entropy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy), the physiological imperative to maintain [homeostasis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeostasis), the biological imperative to survive, the information-theoretic imperative to reduce surprise, and the cognitive imperative to minimize prediction error all correspond to the same mechanics, to minimize free-energy of a thermodynamic system.

We as brain containing organisms are constantly trying to reduce the gulf between what we expect and what we sense, through either action, i.e. changing incoming sensations to match our model, or through perception, i.e. changing 'belief' within model to match incoming sensations. A common rebuttal is: why don't we try to consistently seek out a state of sensory deprivation? Well, the fundamental drive to human behavior is to generate our own intrinsic reward: the minimization of mathematical surprise, which includes an imperative to go out and explore. You can't eat without knowing how to hunt, what to hunt, where to hunt, etc etc etc, requiring all organisms to consistently reduce prediction error and maximize model evidence. This process can't happen inside a quiet, dark cave, you'd simply die (natural selection). Thus, evolution allowed our models to become increasingly more general, capable of more complex adaptive behavior, until our models modeled our models modeling the world around us. That's human intelligence for you in a nutshell.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If you like this take, let's work together to reconstruct human intelligence bahaha.  
> **username_2**: Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer).  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2020-08-30. Score: 1

Dynamic systems analysis has recently made inroads into psychology. [Quirin et al.(2020)](https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2295) consider adaptive processes and may be a place for you to start.

Quirin, M., Robinson, M. D., Rauthmann, J. F., Kuhl, J., & Deyoung, C. G. (2020). The Dynamics of Personality Approach (DPA): Twenty Tenets for Uncovering the Causal Mechanisms of Personality. European Journal of Personality. <https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2295>


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