The power of prediction reduces activation in the primary visual cortex

Prediction is an invaluable skill for navigating through complex environments. Somehow the brain generates predictions about perceptual inputs it’s likely to receive using contextual information from recent memory. Statistical regularities are learned (e.g. movement and attack patterns of Mega Man bosses) and lead to less activation in corresponding brain areas. The brain is a miserly organ. “Why put in more work than I have to when I know what’s gonna happen next”, says the brain. Alink and colleagues over at the Max Planck Institute in Germany decided to check out what’s really going on in the brain when it’s making visual predictions

Using fMRI, the team tested whether predictability reduced responses in the human visual cortex as put forth in Rao and Ballards 1999 model of predictive coding. They assessed the theoretical claim by looking at the response of V1 (primary visual cortex) when detecting predictive and non-predictive motions [read the full entry at The Quantum Lobe Chronicles]