The free-energy principle explains the brain
The RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) in Japan, along with colleagues, has shown that the free-energy principle can explain how neural networks are optimized for efficiency. Published in the scientific journal Communications Biology , the study first shows how the free-energy principle is the basis for any neural network that minimizes energy cost. Then, as proof-of-concept, it shows how an energy minimizing neural network can solve mazes. This finding will be useful for analyzing impaired brain function in thought disorders as well as for generating optimized neural networks for artificial intelligences.
Biological optimization is a natural process that makes our bodies and behavior as efficient as possible. A behavioral example can be seen in the transition that cats make from running to galloping. Far from being random, the switch occurs precisely at the speed when the amount of energy it takes to gallop becomes less that it takes to run. In the brain, neural networks are optimized to allow efficient control of behavior and transmission of information, while still maintaining the ability to adapt and reconfigure to changing environments.
As with the simple cost/benefit calculation that can predict the speed that a cat will begin to gallop, researchers at RIKEN CBS are trying to discover the basic mathematical principles that underly how neural networks self-optimize. The free-energy principle follows a concept called Bayesian inference, which is the key. In this system, an agent is continually updated by new incoming sensory data, as well its own past outputs, or decisions. The researchers compared the free-energy principle with well-established rules that control how the strength of neural connections within a network can be altered by changes in sensory input.
