Active inference and learning

This paper offers an active inference account of choice behaviour and learning. It focuses on the distinction between goal-directed and habitual behaviour and how they contextualise each other. We show that habits emerge naturally (and autodidactically) from sequential policy optimisation when agents are equipped with state-action policies. In active inference, behaviour has explorative (epistemic) and exploitative (pragmatic) aspects that are sensitive to ambiguity and risk respectively, where epistemic (ambiguity-resolving) behaviour enables pragmatic (reward-seeking) behaviour and the subsequent emergence of habits. Although goal-directed and habitual policies are usually associated with model-based and…

• W
  Wellcome

  Award: 088130/Z/09/Z
• WT
  Wellcome Trust

  Awards: 088130, 088130/Z/09/Z
• ÖA
  Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• US
  Universität Salzburg