Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Explained by the Free Energy Principle

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Information Theory

Background:

• Psychosocial stress is commonly understood, but its neurobiological underpinnings are complex.
• The free energy principle offers a framework for understanding sentient behavior as minimizing surprise (variational free energy).

Purpose of the Study:

• To redefine psychosocial stress within the information-theoretical framework of the free energy principle.
• To elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms of uncertainty resolution and its link to psychosomatic illnesses.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual redefinition of stress based on the free energy principle.
• Description of the uncertainty resolution program (URP) and its subroutines.
• Linking URP outcomes (habituation vs. toxic stress) to specific metabolic phenotypes (obese vs. lean type 2 diabetes mellitus) via the Selfish Brain theory.

Main Results:

• Stress is characterized as heightened expected free energy or uncertainty.
• The URP aims to reduce uncertainty through arousal, energy mobilization, and learning.
• Failure to resolve uncertainty leads to stress habituation (tolerable stress) or toxic stress, with distinct links to metabolic disorders.

Conclusions:

• Psychosocial stress can be mechanistically anchored in the free energy principle's concept of uncertainty.
• Uncertainty reduction mechanisms have significant neurobiological and psychosomatic implications.
• Understanding stress as uncertainty offers new perspectives on the development of psychosomatic illnesses like type 2 diabetes mellitus.