"Through others we become ourselves": The dialectics of predictive coding and active inference

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Sociocultural Theory
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• The free-energy principle offers a framework for understanding cognition.
• Current Bayesian accounts of cognition can be enriched by sociocultural perspectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To situate the free-energy principle within cultural processes.
• To shift focus from "thinking-through" to "becoming-with" in social cognition.
• To propose empirical, computational, and conceptual investigations of social interaction dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual integration of free-energy principle and sociocultural theories.
• Proposed shift in focus from individualistic cognitive processes to social interaction dynamics.
• Emphasis on multiscale analysis of social dynamics.

Main Results:

• Creative integration of the free-energy principle with cultural processes.
• Enrichment of both sociocultural theories and Bayesian cognitive accounts.
• Identification of "becoming-with" as a key concept for social cognition.

Conclusions:

• A "becoming-with" approach, focusing on social interaction dynamics, complements existing cognitive frameworks.
• Investigating multiscale social interaction is crucial for advancing our understanding of social cognition.
• This work bridges computational and sociocultural approaches to the mind.