Prediction, perception and agency.
Open accessAbstract
The articles in this special issue provide a rich and thoughtful perspective on the brain as an inference machine. They illuminate key aspects of the internal or generative models the brain might use for perception. Furthermore, they explore the implications for a sense of agency and the nature of false inference in neuropsychiatric syndromes. In this review, I try to gather together some of the themes that emerge in this special issue and use them to illustrate how far one can take the notion of predictive coding in understanding behaviour and agency.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A motive itself can be conceived of as being set to expect a particular input, along the lines proposed in predictive coding theory.
“A motive itself can be conceived of as being set to expect a particular input, along the lines proposed in predictive coding theory (Von Holst and Mittelstaedt, 1950; Friston, 2012; Clark, 2013).”
From Impulsive action: emotional impulses and their control (2014) · cites this paper as Friston, 2012
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory?
Friston, K. (2010) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2787 · Cited by 8,120 · cited 5× · see citing works
“The suppression of prediction errors through changes in coupling among brain areas corresponds to perceptual learning and can be expressed in a form that is very similar to classical associative or Hebbian plasticity (Friston, 2010).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationTreatise on Physiological Optics
von Helmholtz, H., & Southall, P. C. (1962) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 2,196 · see citing works
On the computational architecture of the neocortex: II The role of cortico-cortical loops
Mumford, D. (1992) · Biological Cybernetics · doi:10.1007/bf00198477 · Cited by 1,074 · see citing works
On the computational architecture of the neocortex: I. The role of the thalamo-cortical loop
Mumford, D. (1991) · Biological Cybernetics · doi:10.1007/bf00202389 · Cited by 929 · see citing works
Prediction during language comprehension: Benefits, costs, and ERP components
Petten, C. K. V., & Luka, B. J. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.09.015 · Cited by 772 · see citing works
Action understanding and active inference
Friston, K., Mattout, J., & Kilner, J. (2011) · Biological Cybernetics · doi:10.1007/s00422-011-0424-z · Cited by 665 · see citing works
Self-citationEarly electrophysiological indicators for predictive processing in audition: A review
Bendixen, A., SanMiguel, I., & Schröger, E. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.08.003 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Winkler, I., & Czigler, I. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.10.001 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Predictive information processing in music cognition. A critical review
Rohrmeier, M., & Koelsch, S. (2012) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.12.010 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
A challenging, unpredictable world for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Gomot, M., & Wicker, B. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.09.017 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Visual mismatch negativity and unintentional temporal-context-based prediction in vision
Kimura, M. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.11.010 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Todd, J., Michie, P. T., Schall, U., Ward, P. B., & Catts, S. V. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.10.003 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Anticipating the future: Automatic prediction failures in schizophrenia
Ford, J. M., & Mathalon, D. H. (2012) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.09.004 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Predicting the future: From implicit learning to consolidation
Janacsek, K., & Németh, D. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.11.012 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Perception and hierarchical dynamics
Kiebel, S. J. (2009) · Frontiers in Neuroinformatics · doi:10.3389/neuro.11.020.2009 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Temporal aspects of prediction in audition: Cortical and subcortical neural mechanisms
Schwartze, M., Tavano, A., Schröger, E., & Kotz, S. A. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.11.003 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Visual prediction and perceptual expertise
Cheung, O. S., & Bar, M. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.11.002 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Predictive information processing in the brain: Errors and response monitoring
Hoffmann, S. F., & Falkenstein, M. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.11.015 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Agency, gait and self-consciousness
Kannape, O. A., & Blanke, O. (2012) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.12.006 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self
Seth, A. K. (2013) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.09.007 · Cited by 1,816 · see citing works
Active interoceptive inference and the emotional brain
Seth, A. K., & Friston, K. J. (2016) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0007 · Cited by 945 · see citing works
“A simple classification, from ‘low’ to ‘high’ levels, would range from experiences of being and having a body (10) (63) (64), through to the experience of perceiving the world from a particular point of view (a first person perspective, see (65) (66)), to experiences of intention and agency (67) (68), and at higher le…”
BackgroundSelf-citationThe free-energy self: a predictive coding account of self-recognition
Apps, M. A. J., & Tsakiris, M. (2014) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.01.029 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
Neural Circuitry of Reward Prediction Error
Watabe-Uchida, M., Eshel, N., & Uchida, N. (2017) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-072116-031109 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
Consciousness in humans and non-human animals: recent advances and future directions
Boly, M., Seth, A. K., Wilke, M., Ingmundson, P., Baars, B., Laureys, S., Edelman, D. B., & Tsuchiya, N. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00625 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
Minimal self-models and the free energy principle.
Limanowski, J., & Blankenburg, F. (2013) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00547 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Learning to predict and control harmful events: chronic pain and conditioning
Vlaeyen, J. W. S. (2015) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000107 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Clark, A. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00270 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Impulsive action: emotional impulses and their control
Frijda, N. H., Ridderinkhof, K. R., & Rietveld, E. (2014) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00518 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
“Such basic expressions are informationally and computationally cheap, and thus afforded as non-reflective actions.”
BackgroundHechler, T., Endres, D., & Thorwart, A. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01638 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Emotion in action: A predictive processing perspective and theoretical synthesis
Ridderinkhof, K. R. (2017) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073916661765 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
van Elk, M., Lenggenhager, B., Heydrich, L., & Blanke, O. (2014) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.03.004 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Predictive processing in cognitive robotics: A review
Ciria, A., Schillaci, G., Pezzulo, G., Hafner, V. V., & Lara, B. (2021) · Neural Computation · doi:10.1162/neco_a_01383 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Expecting some action: predictive processing and the construction of conscious experience
Nave, K., Deane, G., Miller, M., & Clark, A. (2022) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-022-00644-y · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Dream to Predict? REM Dreaming as Prospective Coding
Llewellyn, S. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01961 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Comment: The Why, When, and How of Appraisal
Frijda, N. H. (2013) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073912468905 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Brain oscillations and predictive processing.
Yordanova, J., Kolev, V., & Kirov, R. (2012) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00416 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
- Authors
- Friston, K.
- Affiliations
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Friston, Karl
- ORCID
- Friston, Karl
- Venue
- International Journal of Psychophysiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-02
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 248-252
- ISSN
- 0167-8760 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3314993
- OpenAlex
- W2025575849
- Cited by
- 359
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 5.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Psychophysiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (088130)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- predictive coding, generative models, perception, sense of agency, neuropsychiatric syndromes, prediction
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Humans, Learning, Nerve Net, Neural Pathways, Perception, Sensation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
