Riccardo Proietti , Thomas Parr , Alessia Tessari , Karl Friston , Giovanni Pezzulo
{"title":"Active inference and cognitive control: Balancing deliberation and habits through precision optimization","authors":"Riccardo Proietti , Thomas Parr , Alessia Tessari , Karl Friston , Giovanni Pezzulo","doi":"10.1016/j.plrev.2025.05.008","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We advance a novel formulation of cognitive control within the active inference framework. The theory proposes that cognitive control amounts to optimising a precision parameter, which acts as a control signal and balances the contributions of deliberative and habitual components of action selection. To illustrate the theory, we simulate a driving scenario in which the driver follows a well-known route, but encounters unexpected challenges. Our simulations show that a standard active inference model can form adaptive habits; i.e., can pass from deliberative to habitual control when the context is stable, but generally fails to revert to deliberative control, when the context changes. To address this failure of context-sensitivity, we introduce a novel type of hierarchical active inference, in which a lower level is responsible for behavioural control and the higher (or meta-cognitive) level observes the belief updating of the lower level below and is responsible for cognitive control. Crucially, the meta-cognitive level can both form habits and suspend them, by controlling the (precision) parameter that prioritizes deliberative choices at the behavioural level. Furthermore, we show that several processes linked to cognitive control — such as surprise detection, cognitive conflict monitoring, control signal regulation and specification, the simulation of future outcomes and the assessment of the costs of control and mental effort — stem coherently from the free energy minimization scheme that underpins active inference. Finally, we discuss the putative neurobiology of cognitive control by simulating brain dynamics in the mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways of the dopamine system, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the locus coeruleus.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":403,"journal":{"name":"Physics of Life Reviews","volume":"54 ","pages":"Pages 27-51"},"PeriodicalIF":13.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Physics of Life Reviews","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1571064525000879","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We advance a novel formulation of cognitive control within the active inference framework. The theory proposes that cognitive control amounts to optimising a precision parameter, which acts as a control signal and balances the contributions of deliberative and habitual components of action selection. To illustrate the theory, we simulate a driving scenario in which the driver follows a well-known route, but encounters unexpected challenges. Our simulations show that a standard active inference model can form adaptive habits; i.e., can pass from deliberative to habitual control when the context is stable, but generally fails to revert to deliberative control, when the context changes. To address this failure of context-sensitivity, we introduce a novel type of hierarchical active inference, in which a lower level is responsible for behavioural control and the higher (or meta-cognitive) level observes the belief updating of the lower level below and is responsible for cognitive control. Crucially, the meta-cognitive level can both form habits and suspend them, by controlling the (precision) parameter that prioritizes deliberative choices at the behavioural level. Furthermore, we show that several processes linked to cognitive control — such as surprise detection, cognitive conflict monitoring, control signal regulation and specification, the simulation of future outcomes and the assessment of the costs of control and mental effort — stem coherently from the free energy minimization scheme that underpins active inference. Finally, we discuss the putative neurobiology of cognitive control by simulating brain dynamics in the mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways of the dopamine system, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the locus coeruleus.
期刊介绍:
Physics of Life Reviews, published quarterly, is an international journal dedicated to review articles on the physics of living systems, complex phenomena in biological systems, and related fields including artificial life, robotics, mathematical bio-semiotics, and artificial intelligent systems. Serving as a unifying force across disciplines, the journal explores living systems comprehensively—from molecules to populations, genetics to mind, and artificial systems modeling these phenomena. Inviting reviews from actively engaged researchers, the journal seeks broad, critical, and accessible contributions that address recent progress and sometimes controversial accounts in the field.