title: Neural signatures of perceptual inference.
abstract: Generative models, such as predictive coding, posit that perception results from a combination of sensory input and prior prediction, each weighted by its precision (inverse variance), with incongruence between these termed prediction error (deviation from prediction) or surprise (negative log probability of the sensory input). However, direct evidence for such a system, and the physiological basis of its computations, is lacking. Using an auditory stimulus whose pitch value changed according to specific rules, we controlled and separated the three key computational variables underlying perception, and discovered, using direct recordings from human auditory cortex, that surprise due to prediction violations is encoded by local field potential oscillations in the gamma band (>30 Hz), changes to predictions in the beta band (12-30 Hz), and that the precision of predictions appears to quantitatively relate to alpha band oscillations (8-12 Hz). These results confirm oscillatory codes for critical aspects of generative models of perception.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.|Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: William
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9371-0962
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sedley
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: Phillip E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Gander
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.|Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa, United States.|Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sukhbinder
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Kovach
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oya
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: Hiroto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.|Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa, United States.|Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Griffiths
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological
keywords: auditory cortex; human; neuroscience; perception; prediction error; predictions; predictive coding; surprise