Poetics of Prediction Error: A Neuro-Semiotic Active Inference Aesthetics (NSAA) Framework for Affect, Non-Sense, Narrative, and Sign Offloading
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Gilles Deleuze’s aesthetics and sign theory liberated sensory experiences from linguistic structuralism via concepts of affect and a-signifying non-sense (non-sens), yet faced persistent criticism for neglecting intersubjective communication, narrative temporality, and agentic authorship. Addressing these lacunae, we propose the Neuro-Semiotic Active Inference Aesthetics (NSAA v2.0) framework. NSAA unifies Henri Bergson’s duration and matter, Deleuzian affect and non-sense, and depth psychology within Karl Friston’s Free Energy Principle (FEP), Active Inference, and Allostasis. We mathematically define affect as precision-weighted allostatic prediction errors Affect (A) = γ × | y_intero - μ_allostatic | ignited in the anterior insular cortex. We resolve Deleuze's "abolition of the subject" by framing artistic creation as the external offloading of generative models via Broca's area and motor cortices, establishing a distributed metacognitive agency. Furthermore, we formalize narrative as a Bayesian temporality of prior updates (t0t4) and integrate Deleuze's Non-Sense as the bypassing of top-down semantic categorization. Applied to Han Kang’s The Vegetarian (sensory-deprived text) and multimodal fusion arts (lyrics, music, video, dance, and 'Flow' state), NSAA delivers a mathematically grounded, neurobiologically validated universal framework for 21st-century aesthetic analysis.
Author: Lee, Jonghoon
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225561600