This article presents a unifying theory of the embodied, situated human brain called the Hierarchically Mechanistic Mind (HMM). The HMM describes the brain as a complex adaptive system that actively minimises the decay of our sensory and physical states by producing self-fulfilling action-perception cycles via dynamical interactions between hierarchically organised neurocognitive mechanisms. This theory synthesises the free-energy principle (FEP) in neuroscience with an evolutionary systems theory of psychology that explains our brains, minds, and behaviour by appealing to Tinbergen's four questions: adaptation, phylogeny, ontogeny, and mechanism. After leveraging the FEP to formally define the HMM across different spatiotemporal scales, we conclude by exploring its implications for theorising and research in the sciences of the mind and behaviour.

中文翻译：

---

等级机械思维：人类心灵的自由能表述。

本文提出了一种关于具体化、定位的人类大脑的统一理论，称为层次机械思维 (HMM)。HMM 将大脑描述为一个复杂的自适应系统，它通过分层组织的神经认知机制之间的动态相互作用产生自我实现的动作感知循环，从而主动最小化我们的感觉和物理状态的衰退。该理论将神经科学中的自由能原理（FEP）与心理学的进化系统理论相结合，通过诉诸丁伯根的四个问题来解释我们的大脑、思想和行为：适应、系统发育、个体发育和机制。在利用 FEP 跨不同时空尺度正式定义 HMM 后，我们通过探索其对思维和行为科学的理论和研究的影响来得出结论。