Abstract

In this paper, we introduce an ecological account of communication according to which acts of communication are active inferences achieved by affecting the behavior of a target organism via the modification of its field of affordances. Constraining a target organism’s behavior constitutes a mechanism of socially extended active inference, allowing organisms to proactively regulate their inner states through the behavior of other organisms. In this general conception of communication, the type of cooperative communication characteristic of human communicative interaction is a way of constraining interaction dynamics toward the goals of a given joint action by constructing and altering shared fields of affordances. This account embraces a pragmatist view according to which communication is a form of action aiming to influence the behavior of a target, and stands against the traditional transmission view according to which communication fundamentally serves to convey information. Understanding acts of communication as active inference under an ecological interpretation allows us to link communicative and ultimately linguistic behavior to the biological imperative of minimizing free energy and to emphasize the action-oriented nature of communicative interaction.

摘要

在本文中，我们介绍了一种交流的生态学帐户，根据该帐户，交流行为是通过修改其可供性领域来影响目标生物的行为来实现的主动推理。约束目标生物的行为构成了社会扩展的主动推理机制，允许生物通过其他生物的行为主动调节其内部状态。在这种交流的一般概念中，人类交流互动所特有的合作交流类型是一种通过构建和改变可供性的共享领域来将互动动态限制在特定联合行动目标的方式。这个解释包含了一种实用主义观点，根据这种观点，传播是一种旨在影响目标行为的行动形式，并反对传统的传播观点，根据这种观点，传播从根本上是为了传达信息。将交流行为理解为生态解释下的主动推理，使我们能够将交流行为和最终语言行为与最小化自由能的生物学要求联系起来，并强调交流互动的以行动为导向的本质。