Prefrontal neural ensembles encode an internal model of visual sequences and their violations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Estelle Bellet ◽  
Marion Gay ◽  
Joachim Bellet ◽  
Bechir Jarraya ◽  
Stanislas Dehaene ◽  
...  

Theories of predictive coding hypothesize that cortical networks learn internal models of environmental regularities to generate expectations that are constantly compared with sensory inputs. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to be critical for predictive coding. Here, we show how prefrontal neuronal ensembles encode a detailed internal model of sequences of visual events and their violations. We recorded PFC ensembles in a visual local-global sequence paradigm probing low and higher-order predictions and mismatches. PFC ensembles formed distributed, overlapping representations for all aspects of the dynamically unfolding sequences, including information about image identity as well as abstract information about ordinal position, anticipated sequence pattern, mismatches to local and global structure, and model updates. Model and mismatch signals were mixed in the same ensembles, suggesting a revision of predictive processing models that consider segregated processing. We conclude that overlapping prefrontal ensembles may collectively encode all aspects of an ongoing visual experience, including anticipation, perception, and surprise.

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina G. Vilas ◽  
Lucia Melloni

Abstract To become a unifying theory of brain function, predictive processing (PP) must accommodate its rich representational diversity. Gilead et al. claim such diversity requires a multi-process theory, and thus is out of reach for PP, which postulates a universal canonical computation. We contend this argument and instead propose that PP fails to account for the experiential level of representations.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 806
Author(s):  
Stephen Fox

Psychomotor experience can be based on what people predict they will experience, rather than on sensory inputs. It has been argued that disconnects between human experience and sensory inputs can be addressed better through further development of predictive processing theory. In this paper, the scope of predictive processing theory is extended through three developments. First, by going beyond previous studies that have encompassed embodied cognition but have not addressed some fundamental aspects of psychomotor functioning. Second, by proposing a scientific basis for explaining predictive processing that spans objective neuroscience and subjective experience. Third, by providing an explanation of predictive processing that can be incorporated into the planning and operation of systems involving robots and other new technologies. This is necessary because such systems are becoming increasingly common and move us farther away from the hunter-gatherer lifestyles within which our psychomotor functioning evolved. For example, beliefs that workplace robots are threatening can generate anxiety, while wearing hardware, such as augmented reality headsets and exoskeletons, can impede the natural functioning of psychomotor systems. The primary contribution of the paper is the introduction of a new formulation of hierarchical predictive processing that is focused on psychomotor functioning.


2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil K. Seth ◽  
Hugo D. Critchley

AbstractThe Bayesian brain hypothesis provides an attractive unifying framework for perception, cognition, and action. We argue that the framework can also usefully integrate interoception, the sense of the internal physiological condition of the body. Our model of “interoceptive predictive coding” entails a new view of emotion as interoceptive inference and may account for a range of psychiatric disorders of selfhood.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cosimo Urgesi ◽  
Niccolò Butti ◽  
Alessandra Finisguerra ◽  
Emilia Biffi ◽  
Enza Maria Valente ◽  
...  

AbstractIt has been proposed that impairments of the predictive function exerted by the cerebellum may account for social cognition deficits. Here, we integrated cerebellar functions in a predictive coding framework to elucidate how cerebellar alterations could affect the predictive processing of others’ behavior. Experiment 1 demonstrated that cerebellar patients were impaired in relying on contextual information during action prediction, and this impairment was significantly associated with social cognition abilities. Experiment 2 indicated that patients with cerebellar malformation showed a domain-general deficit in using contextual information to predict both social and physical events. Experiment 3 provided first evidence that a social-prediction training in virtual reality could boost the ability to use context-based predictions to understand others’ intentions. These findings shed new light on the predictive role of the cerebellum and its contribution to social cognition, paving the way for new approaches to the rehabilitation of the Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beren Millidge

Initial and preliminary implementations of predictive processing and active inference models are presented. These include the baseline hierarchical predictive coding models of (Friston 2003, 2005), and dynamical predictive coding models using generalised coordinates (Friston 2008, 2010, Buckley 2017). Additionally, we re-implement and experiment with the active inference thermostat presented in (Buckley 2017) and also implement an active inference agent with a hierarchical predictive coding perceptual model on the more challenging cart-pole task from OpanAI gym. We discuss the initial performance, capabilities, and limitations of these models in their preliminary stages and consider how they might be further scaled up to tackle more challenging tasks.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Kiepe ◽  
Nils Kraus ◽  
Guido Hesselmann

Self-generated auditory input is perceived less loudly than the same sounds generated externally. The existence of this phenomenon, called Sensory Attenuation (SA), has been studied for decades and is often explained by motor-based forward models. Recent developments in the research of SA, however, challenge these models. We review the current state of knowledge regarding theoretical implications about the significance of Sensory Attenuation and its role in human behavior and functioning. Focusing on behavioral and electrophysiological results in the auditory domain, we provide an overview of the characteristics and limitations of existing SA paradigms and highlight the problem of isolating SA from other predictive mechanisms. Finally, we explore different hypotheses attempting to explain heterogeneous empirical findings, and the impact of the Predictive Coding Framework in this research area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 356-371
Author(s):  
Cláudio M. F. Leite ◽  
Carlos E. Campos ◽  
Crislaine R. Couto ◽  
Herbert Ugrinowitsch

Interacting with the environment requires a remarkable ability to control, learn, and adapt motor skills to ever-changing conditions. The intriguing complexity involved in the process of controlling, learning, and adapting motor skills has led to the development of many theoretical approaches to explain and investigate motor behavior. This paper will present a theoretical approach built upon the top-down mode of motor control that shows substantial internal coherence and has a large and growing body of empirical evidence: The Internal Models. The Internal Models are representations of the external world within the CNS, which learn to predict this external world, simulate behaviors based on sensory inputs, and transform these predictions into motor actions. We present the Internal Models’ background based on two main structures, Inverse and Forward models, explain how they work, and present some applicability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (14) ◽  
pp. 3507-3519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Pfarr ◽  
Laura Schaaf ◽  
Janine K. Reinert ◽  
Elisabeth Paul ◽  
Frank Herrmannsdörfer ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 544-556
Author(s):  
Stefan Berteau ◽  
Daniel Bullock

Hippocampal region CA1 operates as an associative mismatch detector, comparing predictive signals from CA3 with signals from EC3 reflecting sensory inputs. This new CA1 pyramidal model shows that biophysical features enable these comparators to switch output between brief bursts for matches and tonic spiking for mismatches. This suggests that cognitive learning models (e.g., predictive coding) may require much less match/mismatch circuitry than commonly assumed. Additional simulations illuminate deficits seen in psychiatric disorders and drug-induced states.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Nava ◽  
Luigi Tamè ◽  
Serena Giurgola ◽  
Nadia Bolognini

Abstract Neuropsychological reports of phantom sensations in congenital limb aplasia have often been taken as evidence of the existence of an innate, ‘hard-wired’, representation of the body in the brain that does not need to be constructed from, or updated by, online afferent sensory inputs, including vision. However, when asked to draw the contour of their own body and of an ideal body (i.e. body with perfect proportions), congenitally, but not late blind individuals, exhibited a magnified representation of their own body, specifically of their hands, in comparison to sighted controls. This over-representation did not extend to their ideal body model. These findings show that the representation of the own body metric is shaped by early visual experience, and that seeing one’s own and other bodies early in development contributes to the construction of a unified internal model, in which ‘own’ and ‘other’ merge.


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