Predictive codes for forthcoming perception in the frontal cortex.
Incoming sensory information is often ambiguous, and the brain has to make decisions during perception. "Predictive coding" proposes that the brain resolves perceptual ambiguity by anticipating the forthcoming sensory environment, generating a template against which to match observed sensory evidence. We observed a neural representation of predicted perception in the medial frontal cortex, while human subjects decided whether visual objects were faces or not. Moreover, perceptual decisions about faces were associated with an increase in top-down connectivity from the frontal cortex to face-sensitive visual areas, consistent with the matching of predicted and observed evidence for the presence of faces.
Summerfield
Christopher
C
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 1190 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, USA. summerfd@paradox.columbia.edu
Egner
Tobias
T
Greene
Matthew
M
Koechlin
Etienne
E
Mangels
Jennifer
J
Hirsch
Joy
J
D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology