title: Beta- and gamma-band activity reflect predictive coding in the processing of causal events.
abstract: In daily life, complex events are perceived in a causal manner, suggesting that the brain relies on predictive processes to model them. Within predictive coding theory, oscillatory beta-band activity has been linked to top-down predictive signals and gamma-band activity to bottom-up prediction errors. However, neurocognitive evidence for predictive coding outside lower-level sensory areas is scarce. We used magnetoencephalography to investigate neural activity during probability-dependent action perception in three areas pivotal for causal inference, superior temporal sulcus, temporoparietal junction and medial prefrontal cortex, using bowling action animations. Within this network, Granger-causal connectivity in the beta-band was found to be strongest for backward top-down connections and gamma for feed-forward bottom-up connections. Moreover, beta-band power in TPJ increased parametrically with the predictability of the action kinematics-outcome sequences. Conversely, gamma-band power in TPJ and MPFC increased with prediction error. These findings suggest that the brain utilizes predictive-coding-like computations for higher-order cognition such as perception of causal events.
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands and stan.vanpelt@donders.ru.nl.
authors.forename: Stan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Pelt
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands and.
authors.forename: Lieke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heil
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands and.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kwisthout
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands and Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging and Sobell Department, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Sasha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ondobaka
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands and.
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: van Rooij
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands and.
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bekkering
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001611:Beta Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D065818:Gamma Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D011336:Probability; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: action perception; causal inference; connectivity; magnetoencephalography; predictive coding