Generative models as parsimonious descriptions of sensorimotor loops

The Bayesian brain hypothesis, predictive processing and variational free energy minimisation are typically used to describe perceptual processes based on accurate generative models of the world. However, generative models need not be veridical representations of the environment. We suggest that they can (and should) be used to describe sensorimotor relationships relevant for behaviour rather than precise accounts of the world. In the target article, Brette questions the use of the neural coding metaphor in the neurosciences. One of the main arguments is related to the criticism of approaches that overemphasise the role of perception as opposed to motor control for accounts of cognition.