Matteo Colombo
Biographic Data
| ID | 3597497 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matteo Colombo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matteo |
| FAMILY NAME | Colombo |
| SIGNATURE | COLOMBO M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tilburg University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2251-2248 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 57 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Thickness Is More Than Affective Valence
Thick terms like “courageous,” “smart,” and “tasty” combine description and evaluation, contrasting with purely evaluative terms like “good” and “bad,” and descriptive terms like “Italian” and “green.” Thick terms intuitively constitute a special class of evaluative language; but we currently do not know whether the psycholinguistic effects of these terms are reducible to known semantic dimensions. Here, we start to systematically explore this qu…
Paths to Diversity
The geometry of the environment can affect numerous psychological, social, and ecological processes. But its roles in social learning and the dynamics of descriptive norms remain unclear. Here we use agent-based modeling to explore how environments with different geometric shapes can influence social learning to produce variations in the extent of universally shared descriptive norms. Our simulations show that an environment with an irregular lay…
A phenomenology and epistemology of large language models
This paper analyses the phenomenology and epistemology of chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard. The computational architecture underpinning these chatbots are large language models (LLMs), which are generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems trained on a massive dataset of text extracted from the Web. We conceptualise these LLMs as multifunctional computational cognitive artifacts, used for various cognitive tasks such as translating, summarizi…
Computational Modelling for Alcohol Use Disorder
In this paper, I examine Reinforcement Learning (RL) modelling practice in psychiatry, in the context of alcohol use disorders. I argue that the epistemic roles RL currently plays in the development of psychiatric classification and search for explanations of clinically relevant phenomena are best appreciated in terms of Chang’s (2004) account of epistemic iteration, and by distinguishing mechanistic and aetiological modes of computational explan…
Why Perceptual Experiences cannot be Probabilistic
Perceptual Confidence is the thesis that perceptual experiences can be probabilistic. This thesis has been defended and criticised based on a variety of phenomenological, epistemological, and explanatory arguments. One gap in these arguments is that they neglect the question of whether perceptual experiences satisfy the formal conditions that define the notion of probability to which Perceptual Confidence is committed. Here, we focus on this unde…
A Reformation in Progress
This article examines the life, theological career, exegetical development, and posthumous biographies of Johannes Oecolampadius as illustrative examples of the fact that the Swiss Reformation, with all its religious movements, was far from a uniform concept in terms of its origins, purposes, and methodologies. The article explains through Oecolampadius's example an approach to reform that was 'in progress', traversing the nexuses of disparate me…
New Light on Old Perspectives
Discussing the Islamic State on Twitter
Intuitions About the Reference of Proper Names
The finding that intuitions about the reference of proper names vary cross-culturally (Machery et al. Cognition 92: 1–12. 2004) was one of the early milestones in experimental philosophy. Many follow-up studies investigated the scope and magnitude of such cross-cultural effects, but our paper provides the first systematic meta-analysis of studies replicating (Machery et al. Cognition 92: 1–12. 2004). In the light of our results, we assess the exi…
Intellectually Humble, but Prejudiced People. A Paradox of Intellectual Virtue
Intellectual humility has attracted attention in both philosophy and psychology. Philosophers have clarified the nature of intellectual humility as an epistemic virtue; and psychologists have developed scales for measuring people’s intellectual humility. Much less attention has been paid to the potential effects of intellectual humility on people’s negative attitudes and to its relationship with prejudice-based epistemic vices. Here we fill these…
Underlying delusion
What is the relationship between the concepts of the predictive processing theory of brain functioning and the everyday concepts with which people conduct and explain their mental lives? To answer this question, we focus on predictive processing explanations of mental disorder that appeal to false inference. After distinguishing two concepts of false inference, we survey four ways of understanding the relationship between explanations of mental p…
First principles in the life sciences
The free-energy principle states that all systems that minimize their free energy resist a tendency to physical disintegration. Originally proposed to account for perception, learning, and action, the free-energy principle has been applied to the evolution, development, morphology, anatomy and function of the brain, and has been called a postulate , an unfalsifiable principle , a natural law , and an imperative . While it might afford a theoretic…
Being Realist about Bayes, and the Predictive Processing Theory of Mind
Some naturalistic philosophers of mind subscribing to the predictive processing theory of mind have adopted a realist attitude towards the results of Bayesian cognitive science. In this article, we argue that this realist attitude is unwarranted. The Bayesian research programme in cognitive science does not possess special epistemic virtues over alternative approaches for explaining mental phenomena involving uncertainty. In particular, the Bayes…
Andy Clark and His Critics
Abstract Andy Clark is a leading philosopher and cognitive scientist. The fruits of his work have been diverse and lasting. They have had an extraordinary impact throughout philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and robotics. The extended mind hypothesis, the power of parallel distributed processing, the role of language in opening up novel paths for thinking, the flexible interface between biological minds and artificial technologies, the signifi…
Explanatory integration, computational phenotypes, and dimensional psychiatry
We compare three theoretical frameworks for pursuing explanatory integration in psychiatry: a new dimensional framework grounded in the notion of computational phenotype, a mechanistic framework, and a network of symptoms framework. Considering the phenomenon of alcoholism, we argue that the dimensional framework is the best for effectively integrating computational and mechanistic explanations with phenomenological analyses
Andy Clark and His Critics
The Routledge Handbook of the Computational Mind
Bayesian cognitive science, predictive brains, and the nativism debate
The rise of Bayesianism in cognitive science promises to shape the debate between nativists and empiricists into more productive forms-or so have claimed several philosophers and cognitive scientists. The present paper explicates this claim, distinguishing different ways of understanding it. After clarifying what is at stake in the controversy between nativists and empiricists, and what is involved in current Bayesian cognitive science, the paper…
Introduction to Scientific Reasoning
HIT and brain reward function
Introduction
Objectivity is a buzz word in philosophy of science: it permeates various metaphysical and epistemological discussions, and it helps to build public trust in science. The epistemic authority of science seems to depend on the degree to which science is objective. Conversely, "just subjective" or "not objectively verified" are labels that are often used by science skeptics and deniers to dismiss the scientific state of the art in a discipline (e.g.…
Bayesian Cognitive Science, Unification, and Explanation
It is often claimed that the greatest value of the Bayesian framework in cognitive science consists in its unifying power. Several Bayesian cognitive scientists assume that unification is obviously linked to explanatory power. But this link is not obvious, as unification in science is a heterogeneous notion, which may have little to do with explanation. While a crucial feature of most adequate explanations in cognitive science is that they reveal…
The Regeni case and Italy’s Mediterranean policy
The Regeni case has called into question the traditional Italian foreign policy in the Mediterranean, which has been based on a business-oriented approach and an overall friendly attitude towards the existing governments. Under the pressure of public opinion, Renzi’s executive has been pushed to rethink its current relations to Egypt, traditionally a close partner of Italy, thus weakening the once strong economic, political, and security partners…
For a Few Neurons More
There continues to be significant confusion about the goals, scope, and nature of modelling practice in neuroeconomics. This article aims to dispel some such confusion by using one of the most recent critiques of neuroeconomic modelling as a foil. The article argues for two claims. First, currently, for at least some economic model of choice behaviour, the benefits derivable from neurally informing an economic model do not involve special tractab…
Models, Mechanisms, and Coherence
Life-science phenomena are often explained by specifying the mechanisms that bring them about. The new mechanistic philosophers have done much to substantiate this claim and to provide us with a better understanding of what mechanisms are and how they explain. Although there is disagreement among current mechanists on various issues, they share a common core position and a seeming commitment to some form of scientific realism. But is such a commi…
Bayesian Cognitive Science, Unification, and Explanation
It is often claimed that the greatest value of the Bayesian framework in cognitive science consists in its unifying power. Several Bayesian cognitive scientists assume that unification is obviously linked to explanatory power. But this link is not obvious, as unification in science is a heterogeneous notion, which may have little to do with explanation. While a crucial feature of most adequate explanations in cognitive science is that they reveal…
Bayes in the Brain—On Bayesian Modelling in Neuroscience
According to a growing trend in theoretical neuroscience, the human perceptual system is akin to a Bayesian machine. The aim of this article is to clearly articulate the claims that perception can be considered Bayesian inference and that the brain can be considered a Bayesian machine, some of the epistemological challenges to these claims; and some of the implications of these claims. We address two questions: (i) How are Bayesian models used in…
First principles in the life sciences
The free-energy principle states that all systems that minimize their free energy resist a tendency to physical disintegration. Originally proposed to account for perception, learning, and action, the free-energy principle has been applied to the evolution, development, morphology, anatomy and function of the brain, and has been called a postulate , an unfalsifiable principle , a natural law , and an imperative . While it might afford a theoretic…
Being Realist about Bayes, and the Predictive Processing Theory of Mind
Some naturalistic philosophers of mind subscribing to the predictive processing theory of mind have adopted a realist attitude towards the results of Bayesian cognitive science. In this article, we argue that this realist attitude is unwarranted. The Bayesian research programme in cognitive science does not possess special epistemic virtues over alternative approaches for explaining mental phenomena involving uncertainty. In particular, the Bayes…
Bayesian cognitive science, predictive brains, and the nativism debate
The rise of Bayesianism in cognitive science promises to shape the debate between nativists and empiricists into more productive forms-or so have claimed several philosophers and cognitive scientists. The present paper explicates this claim, distinguishing different ways of understanding it. After clarifying what is at stake in the controversy between nativists and empiricists, and what is involved in current Bayesian cognitive science, the paper…
Models, Mechanisms, and Coherence
Life-science phenomena are often explained by specifying the mechanisms that bring them about. The new mechanistic philosophers have done much to substantiate this claim and to provide us with a better understanding of what mechanisms are and how they explain. Although there is disagreement among current mechanists on various issues, they share a common core position and a seeming commitment to some form of scientific realism. But is such a commi…
Deep and beautiful. The reward prediction error hypothesis of dopamine
Moving Forward (and Beyond) the Modularity Debate
Modularity is one of the most important concepts used to articulate a theory of cognitive architecture. Over the last 30 years, the debate in many areas of the cognitive sciences and in philosophy of psychology about what modules are, and to what extent our cognitive architecture is modular, has made little progress. After providing a diagnosis of this lack of progress, this article suggests a remedy. It argues that the theoretical framework of n…
For a Few Neurons More
There continues to be significant confusion about the goals, scope, and nature of modelling practice in neuroeconomics. This article aims to dispel some such confusion by using one of the most recent critiques of neuroeconomic modelling as a foil. The article argues for two claims. First, currently, for at least some economic model of choice behaviour, the benefits derivable from neurally informing an economic model do not involve special tractab…
Bayes in the Brain—On Bayesian Modelling in Neuroscience
According to a growing trend in theoretical neuroscience, the human perceptual system is akin to a Bayesian machine. The aim of this article is to clearly articulate the claims that perception can be considered Bayesian inference and that the brain can be considered a Bayesian machine, some of the epistemological challenges to these claims; and some of the implications of these claims. We address two questions: (i) How are Bayesian models used in…
Deep and beautiful. The reward prediction error hypothesis of dopamine
Moving Forward (and Beyond) the Modularity Debate
Modularity is one of the most important concepts used to articulate a theory of cognitive architecture. Over the last 30 years, the debate in many areas of the cognitive sciences and in philosophy of psychology about what modules are, and to what extent our cognitive architecture is modular, has made little progress. After providing a diagnosis of this lack of progress, this article suggests a remedy. It argues that the theoretical framework of n…
For a Few Neurons More
There continues to be significant confusion about the goals, scope, and nature of modelling practice in neuroeconomics. This article aims to dispel some such confusion by using one of the most recent critiques of neuroeconomic modelling as a foil. The article argues for two claims. First, currently, for at least some economic model of choice behaviour, the benefits derivable from neurally informing an economic model do not involve special tractab…
Models, Mechanisms, and Coherence
Life-science phenomena are often explained by specifying the mechanisms that bring them about. The new mechanistic philosophers have done much to substantiate this claim and to provide us with a better understanding of what mechanisms are and how they explain. Although there is disagreement among current mechanists on various issues, they share a common core position and a seeming commitment to some form of scientific realism. But is such a commi…
The Regeni case and Italy’s Mediterranean policy
The Regeni case has called into question the traditional Italian foreign policy in the Mediterranean, which has been based on a business-oriented approach and an overall friendly attitude towards the existing governments. Under the pressure of public opinion, Renzi’s executive has been pushed to rethink its current relations to Egypt, traditionally a close partner of Italy, thus weakening the once strong economic, political, and security partners…
HIT and brain reward function
Introduction
Objectivity is a buzz word in philosophy of science: it permeates various metaphysical and epistemological discussions, and it helps to build public trust in science. The epistemic authority of science seems to depend on the degree to which science is objective. Conversely, "just subjective" or "not objectively verified" are labels that are often used by science skeptics and deniers to dismiss the scientific state of the art in a discipline (e.g.…
Bayesian Cognitive Science, Unification, and Explanation
It is often claimed that the greatest value of the Bayesian framework in cognitive science consists in its unifying power. Several Bayesian cognitive scientists assume that unification is obviously linked to explanatory power. But this link is not obvious, as unification in science is a heterogeneous notion, which may have little to do with explanation. While a crucial feature of most adequate explanations in cognitive science is that they reveal…
The Routledge Handbook of the Computational Mind
Bayesian cognitive science, predictive brains, and the nativism debate
The rise of Bayesianism in cognitive science promises to shape the debate between nativists and empiricists into more productive forms-or so have claimed several philosophers and cognitive scientists. The present paper explicates this claim, distinguishing different ways of understanding it. After clarifying what is at stake in the controversy between nativists and empiricists, and what is involved in current Bayesian cognitive science, the paper…
Introduction to Scientific Reasoning
Andy Clark and His Critics
Abstract Andy Clark is a leading philosopher and cognitive scientist. The fruits of his work have been diverse and lasting. They have had an extraordinary impact throughout philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and robotics. The extended mind hypothesis, the power of parallel distributed processing, the role of language in opening up novel paths for thinking, the flexible interface between biological minds and artificial technologies, the signifi…
Explanatory integration, computational phenotypes, and dimensional psychiatry
We compare three theoretical frameworks for pursuing explanatory integration in psychiatry: a new dimensional framework grounded in the notion of computational phenotype, a mechanistic framework, and a network of symptoms framework. Considering the phenomenon of alcoholism, we argue that the dimensional framework is the best for effectively integrating computational and mechanistic explanations with phenomenological analyses
Andy Clark and His Critics
Intuitions About the Reference of Proper Names
The finding that intuitions about the reference of proper names vary cross-culturally (Machery et al. Cognition 92: 1–12. 2004) was one of the early milestones in experimental philosophy. Many follow-up studies investigated the scope and magnitude of such cross-cultural effects, but our paper provides the first systematic meta-analysis of studies replicating (Machery et al. Cognition 92: 1–12. 2004). In the light of our results, we assess the exi…
Intellectually Humble, but Prejudiced People. A Paradox of Intellectual Virtue
Intellectual humility has attracted attention in both philosophy and psychology. Philosophers have clarified the nature of intellectual humility as an epistemic virtue; and psychologists have developed scales for measuring people’s intellectual humility. Much less attention has been paid to the potential effects of intellectual humility on people’s negative attitudes and to its relationship with prejudice-based epistemic vices. Here we fill these…
Underlying delusion
What is the relationship between the concepts of the predictive processing theory of brain functioning and the everyday concepts with which people conduct and explain their mental lives? To answer this question, we focus on predictive processing explanations of mental disorder that appeal to false inference. After distinguishing two concepts of false inference, we survey four ways of understanding the relationship between explanations of mental p…
First principles in the life sciences
The free-energy principle states that all systems that minimize their free energy resist a tendency to physical disintegration. Originally proposed to account for perception, learning, and action, the free-energy principle has been applied to the evolution, development, morphology, anatomy and function of the brain, and has been called a postulate , an unfalsifiable principle , a natural law , and an imperative . While it might afford a theoretic…
Being Realist about Bayes, and the Predictive Processing Theory of Mind
Some naturalistic philosophers of mind subscribing to the predictive processing theory of mind have adopted a realist attitude towards the results of Bayesian cognitive science. In this article, we argue that this realist attitude is unwarranted. The Bayesian research programme in cognitive science does not possess special epistemic virtues over alternative approaches for explaining mental phenomena involving uncertainty. In particular, the Bayes…
Discussing the Islamic State on Twitter
New Light on Old Perspectives
A phenomenology and epistemology of large language models
This paper analyses the phenomenology and epistemology of chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard. The computational architecture underpinning these chatbots are large language models (LLMs), which are generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems trained on a massive dataset of text extracted from the Web. We conceptualise these LLMs as multifunctional computational cognitive artifacts, used for various cognitive tasks such as translating, summarizi…
Computational Modelling for Alcohol Use Disorder
In this paper, I examine Reinforcement Learning (RL) modelling practice in psychiatry, in the context of alcohol use disorders. I argue that the epistemic roles RL currently plays in the development of psychiatric classification and search for explanations of clinically relevant phenomena are best appreciated in terms of Chang’s (2004) account of epistemic iteration, and by distinguishing mechanistic and aetiological modes of computational explan…
Why Perceptual Experiences cannot be Probabilistic
Perceptual Confidence is the thesis that perceptual experiences can be probabilistic. This thesis has been defended and criticised based on a variety of phenomenological, epistemological, and explanatory arguments. One gap in these arguments is that they neglect the question of whether perceptual experiences satisfy the formal conditions that define the notion of probability to which Perceptual Confidence is committed. Here, we focus on this unde…
Computer Science (19 works) · Epistemology (16 works) · Psychology (16 works) · Philosophy (15 works) · Cognitive science (11 works) · Artificial Intelligence (7 works) · Cognition (7 works) · Philosophy of science (7 works) · Cognitive psychology (6 works) · Metaphysics (6 works)