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 Reflections on Canalization and Psychopathology (— as discussed in a recent paper by Carhart-Harris, Friston, and colleagues.)

A new descriptive metaphor for psychological entrenchment in mental illness

https://awaisaftab.substack.com/p/reflections-on-canalization-and-psychopathology

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/076/066/018/033/638/original/841b83775f65c07b.png 
 @064e8d4b 

Really appreciated! Especially given that this paper is not an easy read. The breakdown and the description of its relationship to p-factor (including the inclusion of a psyarxiv paper posted just yesterday by @2f27edb2 ++) is all really interesting and exceedingly helpful!

For anyone wanting more before the click:

The heart of the paper is the notion of “canalization.” The basic idea can be stated quite simply: it refers to how features of the mind, brain, or behavior become less able to change in a non-specific way.

Canalization serves here as a “powerful bridging construct” that connects many different ideas:
Entrenchment of a psychological phenotype
Dynamical attractors in dynamical systems 
Minimization of variational “free energy” (i.e., a quantitative, statistical score of surprise or uncertainty)
...