Simulating homeostatic, allostatic and goal-directed forms of interoceptive control using Active Inference

The adaptive regulation of bodily and interoceptive parameters, such as body temperature, thirst and hunger is acentral problem for any biological organism. Here, we present a series of simulations using the framework ofactive inference to formally characterize interoceptive control and some of its dysfunctions. We start from thepremise that the goal of interoceptive control is to minimize a discrepancy between expected and actual interoceptivesensations (i.e., a prediction error or free energy). Importantly, living organisms can achieve this goal byusing various forms of interoceptive control: homeostatic, allostatic and goal-directed. We provide acomputationally-guided analysis of these different forms of interoceptive control, by showing that they correspondto distinct generative models within Active inference. We discuss how these generative models can supportempirical research through enabling fine-grained predictions about physiological and brain signals that mayaccompany both adaptive and maladaptive interoceptive control.