An Information Compass for Probabilistic Reasoning in the Brain

Authors

Bosulu, J., Balasubramanian, V., Kilpatrick, Z. P., Josic, K., Gold, J. I.

Abstract

Probabilistic reasoning in the brain has been studied primarily using simple two-choice tasks that are experimentally and theoretically tractable but have unclear relevance to more complex problems. Here we generalize principles from these studies using information geometry, which treats probability distributions (``beliefs'') as points on statistical manifolds whose geometry captures relationships between those beliefs. We introduce an ``information compass,'' a context-dependent, one-dimensional axis along which an arbitrarily complex belief is reinforced or repudiated. Projecting high-dimensional belief updates onto this axis casts even complex decisions into familiar forms of deliberation and commitment used for simpler decisions. Our framework provides a unified account of how biological and artificial systems can use geometric forms of probabilistic reasoning to make decisions across a range of tasks and domains.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 16 Oct 2026.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this preprint? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.