How does the brain make perceptual predictions over time? There's a theory for that
In the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) , New York University neuroscientist David Heeger offers a new framework to explain how the brain makes predictions. He outlines how "prediction" may be a general principle of cortical function -- along with the already-established role of inference. "It has long been recognized that the brain performs a kind of inference, combining sensory information with expectations," explains Heeger, a professor in NYU's Center for Neural Science. "Those expectations can come from the current context, from memory recall, or as an ongoing prediction over time. This new theory puts all of this together and formalizes it mathematically." Largely missing from our understanding of brain function had been models akin to those routinely employed by meteorologists . In making their predictions, forecasters rely on past weather information to project climate conditions over the next severa...