Cognitive niche construction is the process whereby organisms create and maintain cause–effect models of their niche as guides for fitness influencing behavior. Extended mind theory claims that cognitive processes extend beyond the brain to include predictable states of the world. Active inference and predictive processing in cognitive science assume that organisms embody predictive (i.e., generative) models of the world optimized by standard cognitive functions (e.g., perception, action, learning). This paper presents an active inference formulation that views cognitive niche construction as a cognitive function aimed at optimizing organisms' generative models. We call that process of optimization extended active inference.

中文翻译：

---

扩展主动推理：构建超越头骨的预测认知


认知生态位构建是生物体创建和维护其生态位因果模型作为适应影响行为指南的过程。扩展心智理论声称认知过程超出了大脑范围，包括了可预测的世界状态。认知科学中的主动推理和预测处理假设生物体体现了通过标准认知功能（例如感知、行动、学习）优化的世界预测（即生成）模型。本文提出了一种主动推理公式，将认知生态位构建视为旨在优化生物体生成模型的认知功能。我们将该优化过程称为扩展主动推理。