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Chapter 21 - Minimization of Prediction Errors by Self-Organizing Biological Systems

Prediction Involves Hierarchical Predictive Coding and Free Energy Neuroscience

from Part IV - Neurobiological Theories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2025

Falk Huettig
Falk Huettig
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Psycholinguistik, The Netherlands
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Summary

The brain does not passively register sensory input but actively predicts it. The activity of the sensory input is ‘explained away’ and only activity that was not predicted remains. This remaining activity is treated as an error signal that is used to update the predictive coding system. Learning is predictive coding.

Keywords

free energy minimizationpredictive codinghierarchical internal modelsprediction errorexplaining awayhomeostasispredictionefficient codingprecision weighting
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Looking Ahead
The New Science of the Predictive Mind
 , pp. 231 - 248
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

Brette, R. (2019). Is coding a relevant metaphor for the brain?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 42, Article e215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friston, K., Kilner, J., & Harrison, L. (2006). A free energy principle for the brain. Journal of Physiology-Paris, 100(1–3), 70–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huang, Y., & Rao, R. P. (2011). Predictive coding. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2(5), 580–593.Google ScholarPubMed

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