Predictions, prior knowledge, and expectations strongly influence sensory processing and decision-making, yet the neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain a central question in sensory neuroscience. Although the well-established predictive coding model has gained traction as a computational framework for understanding these effects, empirical findings are not always consistent with its predictions. Here, we present an alternative recurrent neuronal model that implements predictive processing through feature-tuned neural populations integrating feedforward sensory input with feedback signals via circuit dynamics consistent with established features of cortical organization.
Model parameters were first constrained by fitting the model to behavioral threshold data from a cue-based expectation paradigm using faces and houses as stimuli, allowing the model to capture the characteristic pattern of behavioral prediction effects observed in that study. Without further adjustment of the participant-specific parameters estimated from the behavioral data, the model was then used to simulate neural responses under the experimental protocols of three independent fMRI studies drawn from the literature. Despite differences in stimulus categories and task designs across these studies, the model accounted for key aspects of their main neuroimaging findings, demonstrating generalization from behavior to neural activity.
Overall, these results show that a single recurrent neuronal mechanism can account for both behavioral and neural effects of prediction, offering a theoretical account of how prior knowledge, predictions, and expectations influence sensory processing. The authors thank Katja Doerschner and Burcu Aysen Urgen for their valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. This work was funded by a grant from the Turkish National Scientific and Technological Council (TÜBİTAK 217K163) awarded to HB.
Basturk contributed equally to this work. Department of Psychology, TED University, Ankara, 06420, Türkiye Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center (ASBAM) & National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, 06800, Türkiye Buse M. Basturk & Huseyin Boyaci Department of Neuroscience, Bilkent University, Ankara, 06800, Türkiye Department of Psychology, Bilkent University, Ankara, 06800, Türkiye Department of Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Gießen, Germany The authors declare no competing interests.
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