title: Redefining the Role of Limbic Areas in Cortical Processing.
abstract: There is increasing evidence that the brain actively constructs action and perception using past experience. In this paper, we propose that the direction of information flow along gradients of laminar differentiation provides important insight on the role of limbic cortices in cortical processing. Cortical limbic areas, with a simple laminar structure (e.g., no or rudimentary layer IV), send 'feedback' projections to lower level better laminated areas. We propose that this 'feedback' functions as predictions that drive processing throughout the cerebral cortex. This hypothesis has the potential to provide a unifying framework for an increasing number of proposals that use predictive coding to explain a myriad of neural processes and disorders, and has important implications for hypotheses about consciousness.
authors.affiliation: Northeastern University, Department of Psychology, Boston, MA, USA; Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chanes
authors.affiliation: Northeastern University, Department of Psychology, Boston, MA, USA; Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA. Electronic address: l.barrett@neu.edu.
authors.forename: Lisa Feldman
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Barrett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: active inference; consciousness; cortical processing; intrinsic networks; limbic cortices; predictive coding; structural model