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      Enactive-Dynamic Social Cognition and Active Inference

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          Abstract

          This aim of this paper is two-fold: it critically analyses and rejects accounts blending active inference as theory of mind and enactivism; and it advances an enactivist-dynamic understanding of social cognition that is compatible with active inference. While some social cognition theories seemingly take an enactive perspective on social cognition, they explain it as the attribution of mental states to other people, by assuming representational structures, in line with the classic Theory of Mind (ToM). Holding both enactivism and ToM, we argue, entails contradiction and confusion due to two ToM assumptions widely known to be rejected by enactivism: that (1) social cognition reduces to mental representation and (2) social cognition is a hardwired contentful ‘toolkit’ or ‘starter pack’ that fuels the model-like theorising supposed in (1). The paper offers a positive alternative, one that avoids contradictions or confusion. After rejecting ToM-inspired theories of social cognition and clarifying the profile of social cognition under enactivism, that is without assumptions (1) and (2), the last section advances an enactivist-dynamic model of cognition as dynamic, real-time, fluid, contextual social action, where we use the formalisms of dynamical systems theory to explain the origins of socio-cognitive novelty in developmental change and active inference as a tool to demonstrate social understanding as generalised synchronisation.

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          Stochastic resonance

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            This paper presents a heuristic proof (and simulations of a primordial soup) suggesting that life—or biological self-organization—is an inevitable and emergent property of any (ergodic) random dynamical system that possesses a Markov blanket. This conclusion is based on the following arguments: if the coupling among an ensemble of dynamical systems is mediated by short-range forces, then the states of remote systems must be conditionally independent. These independencies induce a Markov blanket that separates internal and external states in a statistical sense. The existence of a Markov blanket means that internal states will appear to minimize a free energy functional of the states of their Markov blanket. Crucially, this is the same quantity that is optimized in Bayesian inference. Therefore, the internal states (and their blanket) will appear to engage in active Bayesian inference. In other words, they will appear to model—and act on—their world to preserve their functional and structural integrity, leading to homoeostasis and a simple form of autopoiesis.
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              An introduction to niche construction theory

              Niche construction refers to the modification of selective environments by organisms. Theoretical and empirical studies of niche construction are increasing in importance as foci in evolutionary ecology. This special edition presents theoretical and empirical research that illustrates the significance of niche construction to the field. Here we set the scene for the following papers by (1) discussing the history of niche construction research, (2) providing clear definitions that distinguish niche construction from related concepts such as ecosystem engineering and the extended phenotype, (3) providing a brief summary of the findings of niche construction research, (4) discussing the contribution of niche construction and ecological inheritance to (a) expanded notions of inheritance, and (b) the extended evolutionary synthesis, and (5) briefly touching on some of the issues that underlie the controversies over niche construction.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Psychol
                Front Psychol
                Front. Psychol.
                Frontiers in Psychology
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                1664-1078
                29 April 2022
                2022
                : 13
                : 855074
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin , Berlin, Germany
                [2] 2Department of Psychology, Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, Netherlands
                [3] 3Centre for Philosophical Psychology, Universiteit Antwerpen , Antwerp, Belgium
                Author notes

                Edited by: Majid D. Beni, Middle East Technical University, Turkey

                Reviewed by: Giovanni Rolla, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil; Eros Moreira De Carvalho, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

                *Correspondence: Inês Hipólito, ines.hipolito@ 123456hu-berlin.de

                This article was submitted to Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology

                Article
                10.3389/fpsyg.2022.855074
                9102990
                35572328
                cba73212-f27f-470e-9764-40d535230338
                Copyright © 2022 Hipólito and van Es.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 14 January 2022
                : 16 March 2022
                Page count
                Figures: 3, Tables: 1, Equations: 3, References: 135, Pages: 15, Words: 13254
                Funding
                Funded by: German Research Foundation , doi 10.13039/501100001659;
                Funded by: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
                Categories
                Psychology
                Original Research

                Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
                social cognition,niche construction,active inference,theory of mind,enactivism,dynamical systems theory

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