The DOI matches its Crossref record; 102 of the 103 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A variational approach to niche construction
Open accessAbstract
In evolutionary biology, niche construction is sometimes described as a genuine evolutionary process whereby organisms, through their activities and regulatory mechanisms, modify their environment such as to steer their own evolutionary trajectory, and that of other species. There is ongoing debate, however, on the extent to which niche construction ought to be considered a bona fide evolutionary force, on a par with natural selection. Recent formulations of the variational free-energy principle as applied to the life sciences describe the properties of living systems, and their selection in evolution, in terms of variational inference. We argue that niche construction can be described using a variational approach. We propose new arguments to support the niche construction perspective, and to extend the variational approach to niche construction to current perspectives in various scientific fields.
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“As we show here, niche construction, which can be seen as a meta-learning mechanism (Constant et al., 2018), can prove promising in complexifying environments and population dynamics and bring us closer to artificial agents with behaviors reminiscent of natural ones.”
From Dynamics of niche construction in adaptable populations evolving in diverse environments (2023) · cites this paper as Constant et al., 2018
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“This process has been formalized as free energy minimization through environmental modification, providing a variational basis for niche construction (Constant et al., 2018).”
From Social Reality Construction via Active Inference: Modeling the Dialectic of Conformity and Creativity (2026) · cites this paper as Constant et al., 2018
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“However, specific phenotypes are determined by interactions between internal intrinsic dynamics (i.e., intra-system evolution) as well as external systems with which these dynamics couple via niche construction and phenotypic plasticity (Constant et al., 2018).”
From An Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) of Consciousness (2020) · cites this paper as Constant et al., 2018
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Cites
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1 of the 103 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- 10.2307/j.ctvc77f0d · DOI · Paper page
- Veissière S. 2016 Varieties of Tulpa experiences: the hypnotic nature of human sociality, personhood, and interphenomenality. Hypnosis and meditation: towards an integrative science of conscious planes, pp. 55–76. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press Oxford.
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Items 201–206 of 206
Kartal, H. B., & Kartal, A. N. (2026) · Frontiers of Architectural Research · doi:10.1016/j.foar.2026.01.015
The map and the territory: Cognitive thresholds in crime reporting
Stubbs, G. (2026) · Criminology & Criminal Justice · doi:10.1177/17488958261436603
Polak, R., Danielsen, A., Jacoby, N., Pearson, L., Horlor, S., Aubinet, S., London, J., & Nozaradan, S. (2026) · Physics of Life Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.plrev.2026.07.002 · Cited by 1
Klimaj, V., & Safron, A. (2026) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-33010-9_28
Chu, H., & Gong, T. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.7352880
Social Reality Construction via Active Inference: Modeling the Dialectic of Conformity and Creativity
Nomura, K., & Horii, T. (2026) · arXiv
“This process has been formalized as free energy minimization through environmental modification, providing a variational basis for niche construction (Constant et al., 2018).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Constant, A., Ramstead, M. J. D., Veissière, S. P. L., Campbell, J. O., & Friston, K. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- McGill University (CA)
- Independent Researcher, Victoria, BC, Canada
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Constant, Axel
- Venue
- Journal of The Royal Society Interface
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2018-04
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 141
- ISSN
- 1742-5662 (ISSN-L)
- 1742-5689
- PMC
- PMC5938575
- OpenAlex
- W2797051230
- Cited by
- 204
- References
- 103
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 28.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of The Royal Society Interface (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (088130/Z/09/Z)
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Keywords
- niche construction, variational inference, natural selection, evolutionary trajectories, biological systems
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Physiological, Bayes Theorem, Biological Evolution, Models, Theoretical
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