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.