In statistics and machine learning, the Markov blanket for a node in a graphical model contains all the variables that shield the node from the rest of the network. This means that the Markov blanket of a node is the only knowledge needed to predict the behavior of that node and its children. The term was coined by Judea Pearl in 1988.
In a Bayesian network, the values of the parents and children of a node evidently give information about that node. However, its children's parents also have to be included, because they can be used to explain away the node in question. In a Markov random field, the Markov blanket for a node is simply its adjacent (or neighboring) nodes. wikipedia 
The concept of Markov Blankets in incorporated within the Free Energy Principle as the means by which an increasing complex Meaning Matrix is developed to allow increasing accuracy in response to complexity - creating Overlapping Blankets