Our brains are not just memory machines! A Conversation with Dr. Laura Desirèe Di Paolo

Future Learning Design Podcast

Over the last decade, there has been a surge of interest in the evidence and research-backing that support choices that educators and leaders are making in schools. In an effort to prove “what works” they reach for the Cognitive and so-called learning sciences. Personally, I’ve always felt a bit uncomfortable about how narrow these discussions are, focusing only on memory, cognitive load, retrieval and other terms that will be familiar to you if you’ve been involved in these discussions. As you’ll hear in this conversation with Dr Laura Desirèe Di Paolo, our brains are not simply memory machines! In fact, our mind-brain-bodies are incredible production machines performing active inference constantly in order to make sense of and act in the world

Dr Laura Desirèe Di Paolo is a researcher, Philosopher of Cognitive Science at the University of Sussex, UK and in the Moritz-Stern-Institut at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Her research is focused on the material world in education, development, and evolution and she is currently working in Andy Clark’s team on XScape. Material Minds: Exploring the Interactions between Predictive Brains, Cultural Artifacts, and Embodied Visual Search - https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/centres/media-arts-humanities-institute/research/project/science/xscape

Doctor of Philosophy, Philosophy of Life and Cognitive Sciences, “Sapienza” - University of Rome (April, 14th 2014), cum Laude: “Culture Under Construction. The Role of Learning in Reading Others’ Mind and Building a Cultural Niche”, supervisors: Prof. Elena Gagliasso, Prof. Roberto Cordeschi, Prof. Enrico Alleva; Commettee: Prof. Ines Crispini, Prof. Massimo Dell’Utri, Prof. Francesco Ferretti. (https://sussex.academia.edu/LauraDesir%C3%A9eDiPaolo/CurriculumVitae)

She has an academic background in social learning, the evolution of culture in humans and animals and comparative psychology. She is the co-editor of the book, Evolution of Primate Social Cognition. Most recently, and the thing that brought Laura’s brilliant work to my attention was her paper published in January, ‘Active Inference Goes to School: The Importance of Active Learning in the Age of Large Language Models’. January 2024 by Laura Desirèe Di Paolo, Avel Guénin--Carlut, Axel Constant and Andy Clark - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377634490_Active_Inference_Goes_to_School_The_Importance_of_Active_Learning_in_the_Age_of_Large_Language_Models

Other useful resources on Active Inference:

Andy Clark's book 'The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality' - https://www.amazon.fr/Experience-Machine-Minds-Predict-Reality/dp/B0BFGK2KX4

Anil Seth's 2017 TED Talk 'Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality' - https://www.ted.com/talks/anil_seth_your_brain_hallucinates_your_conscious_reality?language=en

And if you're ready for something stronger, check out Karl Friston's co-authored book 'Active Inference: The Free Energy Principle in Mind, Brain, and Behavior' - https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262045353/active-inference/

Subscribe to the Active Inference Institute channel on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ActiveInference/featured

Social Links

Instagram: @lauraddp - https://www.instagram.com/lauraddp/

LinkedIn: @lauradesireedipaolo - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauradesireedipaolo/

X: @LauraDesiree_DP - https://twitter.com/LauraDesiree_DP