Behavioral and Brain Sciences 36 (3):181-204 (2013)
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Abstract |
Brains, it has recently been argued, are essentially prediction machines. They are bundles of cells that support perception and action by constantly attempting to match incoming sensory inputs with top-down expectations or predictions. This is achieved using a hierarchical generative model that aims to minimize prediction error within a bidirectional cascade of cortical processing. Such accounts offer a unifying model of perception and action, illuminate the functional role of attention, and may neatly capture the special contribution of cortical processing to adaptive success. This target article critically examines this approach, concluding that it offers the best clue yet to the shape of a unified science of mind and action. Sections 1 and 2 lay out the key elements and implications of the approach. Section 3 explores a variety of pitfalls and challenges, spanning the evidential, the methodological, and the more properly conceptual. The paper ends (sections 4 and 5) by asking how such approaches might impact our more general vision of mind, experience, and agency.
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Keywords | action attention Bayesian brain expectation generative model hierarchy perception precision predictive coding prediction prediction error top-down processing |
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DOI | 10.1017/s0140525x12000477 |
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References found in this work BETA
An Interactive Activation Model of Context Effects in Letter Perception: I. An Account of Basic Findings.James L. McClelland & David E. Rumelhart - 1981 - Psychological Review 88 (5):375-407.
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Citations of this work BETA
Cognition Does Not Affect Perception: Evaluating the Evidence for “Top-Down” Effects.Chaz Firestone & Brian J. Scholl - 2016 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 39:1-72.
Vanilla PP for Philosophers: A Primer on Predictive Processing.Wanja Wiese & Thomas Metzinger - 2017 - Philosophy and Predictive Processing.
The Anticipating Brain is Not a Scientist: The Free-Energy Principle From an Ecological-Enactive Perspective.Jelle Bruineberg, Julian Kiverstein & Erik Rietveld - 2018 - Synthese 195 (6).
View all 546 citations / Add more citations
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