Hallucinations and perceptual inference
Open accessAbstract
This commentary takes a closer look at how “constructive models of subjective perception,” referred to by Collerton et al. (sect. 2), might contribute to the Perception and Attention Deficit (PAD) model. It focuses on the neuronal mechanisms that could mediate hallucinations, or false inference – in particular, the role of cholinergic systems in encoding uncertainty in the context of hierarchical Bayesian models of perceptual inference (Friston 2002b; Yu & Dayan 2002).
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The main problem in schizophrenia lies not with the prediction of sensory input per se, but in the delicate balance of precision ascribed to prior beliefs and sensory evidence.
“the main problem in schizophrenia lies not with the prediction of sensory input per se, but in the delicate balance of precision ascribed to prior beliefs and sensory evidence (Friston, 2005; Corlett et al., 2011).”
From The Computational Anatomy of Psychosis (2013) · cites this paper as Friston, 2005
The passage indexed under Abstract (page unavailable) says that the relative uncertainty or precision of sensory evidence and prior beliefs matters for hallucinations. It draws connections to schizophrenia, but describes abnormal synaptic integration—not a precision imbalance—as the primary mechanism in schizophrenia. The claim therefore extends the hallucination account to schizophrenia more strongly than this paper does. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMMN is widely considered a robust marker of psychosis, thought to reflect an attempt to minimize prediction error and capture its disruption.
“MMN is widely considered to be a robust marker of psychosis15, thought to reflect an attempt to minimize this prediction error and capture its disruption16–19.”
From Deviations in effective connectivity explain different hallucination subtypes in Parkinson's disease psychosis (2026) · cites this paper as [18]
The copy’s Abstract describes prediction errors in perceptual inference and how failed integration of sensory evidence and prior expectations can lead to hallucinations. It does not mention MMN or establish that MMN measures prediction-error minimization or its disruption. The separate claim that MMN is a robust marker of psychosis is attached to citation 15, not to this source’s apparent citation group (16–19). (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredHallucinations can be understood as the result of an increase in the relative precision of prior beliefs, such that posterior beliefs are impervious to contradictory but imprecise sensory evidence.
“Hallucinations could be understood as the result of an increase in the relative precision of prior beliefs, such that the posterior beliefs are impervious to contradictory – but imprecise – sensory evidence.”
From The Computational Anatomy of Psychosis (2013) · cites this paper as Friston, 2005
Hallucinations may result from enhanced rather than weakened top-down predictive signaling, i.e. increased precision of priors, on neural activity in sensory cortices.
“Alternatively, hallucinations may result from enhanced rather than weakened top-down predictive signaling (i.e. increased precision of priors) on neural activity in sensory cortices (83).”
From The Predictive Coding Account of Psychosis (2018) · cites this paper as [83]
One possibility is that hallucinations result from an overly strong effect of top-down predictive signals on neural activity in sensory cortices.
“One possibility is that hallucinations result from an overly strong effect of top-down predictive signals on neural activity in sensory cortices.133,134”
From Are hallucinations due to an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory influences on the brain? (2016) · cites this paper as [133]
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Dysconnection in schizophrenia: from abnormal synaptic plasticity to failures of self-monitoring
Stephan, K. E., Friston, K. J., & Frith, C. D. (2009) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbn176 · Cited by 1,134 · see citing works
“than a patient in whom the primary abnormality is a cholinergic dysregulation of NMDARs (where symptoms might be dominated by perceptual abnormalities like hallucinations and impaired attention).(24,168) In other words, from the perspective of the dysconnection hypothesis, the diversity of clinical symptoms is due to…”
BackgroundSelf-citationThe Predictive Coding Account of Psychosis
Sterzer, P., Adams, R. A., Fletcher, P., Frith, C., Lawrie, S. M., Muckli, L., Petrovic, P., Uhlhaas, P., Voss, M., & Corlett, P. R. (2018) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.05.015 · Cited by 941 · see citing works
“, increased precision of priors) on neural activity in sensory cortices (83).”
BackgroundThe Computational Anatomy of Psychosis
Adams, R. A., Stephan, K. E., Brown, H. R., Frith, C. D., & Friston, K. J. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00047 · Cited by 850 · see citing works
“Specifically, it is suggested that the main problem in schizophrenia lies not with the prediction of sensory input per se, but in the delicate balance of precision ascribed to prior beliefs and sensory evidence (Friston, 2005; Corlett et al., 2011).”
BackgroundSelf-citationSynaptic plasticity and dysconnection in schizophrenia
Stephan, K. E., Baldeweg, T., & Friston, K. J. (2006) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.10.005 · Cited by 841 · see citing works
Self-citationA Bayesian account of ‘hysteria’
Edwards, M. J., Adams, R. A., Brown, H., Parees, I., & Friston, K. J. (2012) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/aws129 · Cited by 825 · see citing works
“The false percept would be a hallucination (Friston, 2005a).”
BackgroundSelf-citationPavlovian conditioning-induced hallucinations result from overweighting of perceptual priors
Powers, A. R., Mathys, C., & Corlett, P. R. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aan3458 · Cited by 684 · see citing works
Hallucinations and strong priors
Corlett, P. R., Horga, G., Fletcher, P. C., Alderson-Day, B., Schmack, K., & Powers, A. R. (2019) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2018.12.001 · Cited by 534 · see citing works
“The powerful contribution of expectation to perception leads us to speculate that hallucinations might arise when prior predictions exert an inordinate influence over perceptual inferences, creating percepts with no corresponding stimuli at all [11,15].”
The default-mode, ego-functions and free-energy: a neurobiological account of Freudian ideas
Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Friston, K. J. (2010) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awq010 · Cited by 574 · see citing works
“These predictions suppress or cancel prediction-errors (free-energy) until they can be minimized no further (Friston, 2003, 2005).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationToward a neurobiology of delusions
Corlett, P. R., Taylor, J. R., Wang, X.-J., Fletcher, P. C., & Krystal, J. H. (2010) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2010.06.007 · Cited by 394 · see citing works
“Although this appears to be a two-factor theory, when we consider how Bayesian hierarchies like the brain develop into prediction engines (Friston, 2005b) through interactions between neural circuitry and incoming stimulation (Sur and Rubenstein, 2005), delusions really involve a singular…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialFrom drugs to deprivation: A Bayesian framework for understanding models of psychosis
Corlett, P. R., Frith, C. D., & Fletcher, P. C. (2009) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-009-1561-0 · Cited by 367 · see citing works
“The cognitive framework that we apply derives from a current theory of brain function (Friston 2005a) and emphasises the hierarchical interactions between top-down and bottom-up processes, which enable our perception and prediction of the world (Friston 2005a; Mumford 1992).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialMinimal 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
“Generally, illusory percepts are well explained as a result of Bayes-optimal inference, i.e., arising from an interpretation of ambiguous sensory input under strong prior hypotheses (Friston, 2005b; Brown and Friston, 2012; Apps and Tsakiris, 2013; Clark, 2013).”
BackgroundGlutamatergic model psychoses: prediction error, learning, and inference
Corlett, P. R., Honey, G. D., Krystal, J. H., & Fletcher, P. C. (2011) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2010.163 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Interaction of language, auditory and memory brain networks in auditory verbal hallucinations
Ćurčić-Blake, B., Ford, J. M., Hubl, D., Orlov, N. D., Sommer, I. E., Waters, F., Allen, P., Jardri, R., Woodruff, P. W., David, O., et al. (2017) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2016.11.002 · Cited by 224 · see citing works
Circular inferences in schizophrenia
Jardri, R., & Denève, S. (2013) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awt257 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
“…bottom-up sensory information compared with top-down prior knowledge provide a simple account not only for the positive symptoms of schizophrenia (Friston, 2005a), but also for sensory integration deficits in autistic spectrum disorders (Pellicano and Burr, 2012) and functional motor and sensory…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialA perceptual inference mechanism for hallucinations linked to striatal dopamine
Cassidy, C. M., Balsam, P. D., Weinstein, J. J., Rosengard, R. J., Slifstein, M., Daw, N. D., Abi-Dargham, A., & Horga, G. (2018) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.059 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
“Furthermore, under normal conditions, the extent of this perceptual bias—the degree of assimilation—degrades when uncertainty of predictions is high (and precision low) [15, 17, 18], reflecting an uncertainty adjustment whereby predictions become less influential on perception under more uncertain contexts.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialDeficits in predictive coding underlie hallucinations in schizophrenia
Horga, G., Schatz, K. C., Abi-Dargham, A., & Peterson, B. S. (2014) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0200-14.2014 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
“Our findings support the hypothesis that deficient predictive coding underlies psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia (Friston, 2005; Fletcher and Frith, 2009).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialTranslational perspectives for computational neuroimaging
Stephan, K. E., Iglesias, S., Heinzle, J., & Diaconescu, A. O. (2015) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2015.07.008 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Charting the landscape of priority problems in psychiatry, part 1: classification and diagnosis
Stephan, K. E., Bach, D. R., Fletcher, P. C., Flint, J., Frank, M. J., Friston, K. J., Heinz, A., Huys, Q. J. M., Owen, M. J., Binder, E. B., et al. (2016) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(15)00361-2 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Self-citationWhat visual illusions teach us about schizophrenia
Notredame, C.-E., Pins, D., Deneve, S., & Jardri, R. (2014) · Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnint.2014.00063 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Predictions penetrate perception: Converging insights from brain, behaviour and disorder
O’Callaghan, C., Kveraga, K., Shine, J. M., Adams, R. B., & Bar, M. (2016) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2016.05.003 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
TAPAS: An Open-Source Software Package for Translational Neuromodeling and Computational Psychiatry
Frässle, S., Aponte, E. A., Bollmann, S., Brodersen, K. H., Do, C. T., Harrison, O. K., Harrison, S. J., Heinzle, J., Iglesias, S., Kasper, L., et al. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.680811 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
“This is consistent with the hypothesis that, in the context of a Bayesian brain, hallucinations may be explained by overly strong priors (209).”
ResultThe core and beyond in the language-ready brain
Hagoort, P. (2017) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.01.048 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
“Friston (2005) assigns different roles to different neurotransmitters, depending on their decay times.”
Are hallucinations due to an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory influences on the brain?
Jardri, R., Hugdahl, K., Hughes, M., Brunelin, J., Waters, F., Alderson-Day, B., Smailes, D., Sterzer, P., Corlett, P. R., Leptourgos, P., et al. (2016) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbw075 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Hallucinations as Top-Down Effects on Perception
Powers, A. R., Kelley, M., & Corlett, P. R. (2016) · Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging · doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2016.04.003 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Computational psychiatry: from synapses to sentience
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“This narrative fi rst emerged in theoretical treatments of halluci-nosis in synucleinopathies [126 – 128] and, from a computational perspective, was developed in schizophrenia [129 – 133] and autism research [134 – 136].”
BackgroundSelf-citationNicotinic modulation of human auditory sensory memory: Evidence from mismatch negativity potentials
Baldeweg, T., WONG, D., & Stephan, K. E. (2005) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2005.07.014 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
How many neurons are sufficient for perception of cortical activity?
Dalgleish, H. W. P., Russell, L. E., Packer, A. M., Roth, A., Gauld, O. M., Greenstreet, F., Thompson, E. J., & Häusser, M. (2020) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.58889 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
“This combination of features likely maximizes perceptual sensitivity while 487 minimizing erroneous detection of background activity, thus avoiding hallucinations 488 (Carbon, 2014; Cassidy et al., 2018; Corlett et al., 2019; Friston, 2005), runaway 489 excitation (Rose & Blakemore, 1974; Treiman, 2001; Ziburkus, Cres…”
BackgroundKetamine-Induced Hallucinations
Powers, A. R., Gancsos, M. G., Finn, E. S., MORGAN, P. T., & Corlett, P. R. (2015) · Psychopathology · doi:10.1159/000438675 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
ERP Repetition Effects and Mismatch Negativity Generation
Baldeweg, T. (2007) · Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1027/0269-8803.21.34.204 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
“The main attraction of this theory for the present review is that it makes specific predictions for the behavior of ERP components elicited in oddball tasks such as those commonly used to elicit MMN (Friston, 2005a).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialLesions causing hallucinations localize to one common brain network
Kim, N. Y., Hsu, J., Talmasov, D., Joutsa, J., Soussand, L., Wu, O., Rost, N. S., Morenas‐Rodríguez, E., Martí‐Fábregas, J., Pascual‐Leone, Á., et al. (2019) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-019-0565-3 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
A Deep-Dream Virtual Reality Platform for Studying Altered Perceptual Phenomenology
Suzuki, K., Roseboom, W., Schwartzman, D. J., & Seth, A. K. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-16316-2 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
An integrative framework for perceptual disturbances in psychosis
Horga, G., & Abi-Dargham, A. (2019) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0234-1 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
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Smooth pursuit and visual occlusion: active inference and oculomotor control in schizophrenia
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“Functionally, both delusions and hallucinations could be regarded as instances of false inference [51].”
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Understanding visual hallucinations: A new synthesis
Collerton, D., Barnes, J., Diederich, N. J., Dudley, R., ffytche, D., Friston, K., Goetz, C. G., Goldman, J. G., Jardri, R., Kulisevsky, J., et al. (2023) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105208 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
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“Such theories have been used to explain hallucinations (e.g., Friston, 2005) and various forms of delusion (e.g., Hemsley and Garety, 1986; Garety et al., 2001; Corlett et al., 2007; Fletcher and Frith, 2009; Clark, 2013).”
BackgroundMethodActive Inference and Auditory Hallucinations
Benrimoh, D. A., Parr, T., Vincent, P., Adams, R. A., & Friston, K. J. (2018) · Computational Psychiatry · doi:10.1162/cpsy_a_00022 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“While this may be attractive for disorders like schizophrenia, it may be less appropriate for the description of hallucinations in patients losing their sight (Charles Bonnet syndrome) or hearing, where decreased likelihood precision caused by a dysfunctional sensory apparatus allows priors to dominate (without there…”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationCircular inference: mistaken belief, misplaced trust
Denève, S., & Jardri, R. (2016) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.04.001 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
The promises and pitfalls of applying computational models to neurological and psychiatric disorders
Teufel, C., & Fletcher, P. C. (2016) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/aww209 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
“More recently, some authors have embarked on a further step, treating predictive coding schemes as mechanistic models of information processing in the brain more generally (Friston, 2005a).”
BackgroundCharles Bonnet Syndrome: Evidence for a Generative Model in the Cortex?
Reichert, D., Seriès, P., & Storkey, A. (2013) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003134 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“A generative model moreover relates to other approaches discussed in the context of hallucinations (Bayesian inference, predictive coding, adaptive resonance; [27–29,79]).”
BackgroundEmbodied Predictions, Agency, and Psychosis
Leptourgos, P., & Corlett, P. R. (2020) · Frontiers in Big Data · doi:10.3389/fdata.2020.00027 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“Hallucinations might arise when prior predictions exert an inordinate influence over perceptual inferences, creating percepts with no corresponding stimuli at all (Friston, 2005; Powers et al., 2016).”
BackgroundThe promise of layer-specific neuroimaging for testing predictive coding theories of psychosis
Haarsma, J., Kok, P., & Browning, M. D. (2020) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2020.10.009 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Spontaneous Prediction Error Generation in Schizophrenia
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Occurrence and phenomenology of hallucinations in the general population: A large online survey
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How changes in dopamine D2 receptor levels alter striatal circuit function and motivation
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Bayesian inference, predictive coding and delusions
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“This has been discussed as an explanation for visual hallucinosis in organic psychosyndromes (Friston 2005).”
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“…the utility of this predictive processing framework for understanding how speci fi c alterations in learning and inference may produce the positive symptoms of psychosis (Adams et al., 2013b; Corlett et al., 2007, 2010, 2019; K. J. Friston, 2005; Powers et al., 2016; Sterzer et al., 2018).”
BackgroundMethodThe doxastic shear pin: Delusions as errors of learning and memory
Fineberg, S. K., & Corlett, P. R. (2016) · Cognitive Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1080/13546805.2015.1136206 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“PE minimisation occurs at all levels from the single neuron (Fiorillo, 2008) up through the hierarchical neuroanatomy (Friston, 2005b, 2009).”
BackgroundInfluentialModels of Dynamic Belief Updating in Psychosis—A Review Across Different Computational Approaches
Katthagen, T., Fromm, S. P., Wieland, L., & Schlagenhauf, F. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.814111 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“According to the hypothesis, hallucinations result from an overreliance of perceptual beliefs over sensory evidence (57, 58).”
BackgroundWalpola, I. C., Muller, A. J., Hall, J. M., Andrews‐Hanna, J. R., Irish, M., Lewis, S. J. G., Shine, J. M., & O’Callaghan, C. (2020) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2019.12.023 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“…precision (i.e., relative weighting) is consistently afforded to prior beliefs (i.e., top-down expectations or predictions), such that they override incoming sensory evidence and dominate the ultimate percept (Adams, Stephan, Brown, Frith, & Friston, 2013; Fletcher & Frith, 2009; Friston, 2005).”
BackgroundPhenomenal Variability and Introspective Reliability
Hohwy, J. (2011) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0017.2011.01418.x · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Acquisition of visual priors and induced hallucinations in chronic schizophrenia
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Auditory hallucinations: Expectation–perception model
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“The expectation–perception model agrees with the general assumption of Friston’s [9] proposition concerning the role of imbalance between prediction and actual sensory input.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialVisual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease: spotlight on central cholinergic dysfunction
Ignatavicius, A., Matar, E., & Lewis, S. J. G. (2025) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awae289 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
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TAPAS: an open-source software package for Translational Neuromodeling and Computational PsychiatryPreprint
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Models of neuromodulation for computational psychiatry
Iglesias, S., Tomiello, S., Schneebeli, M., & Stephan, K. E. (2016) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Cognitive Science · doi:10.1002/wcs.1420 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
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“It also naturally leads to mechanistic hypotheses about how such processes might be implemented (Aitchison and Lengyel 2016; Friston 2005; Friston et al. 2017; Ma et al. 2006).”
BackgroundSelf-citationVisual hallucinations, thalamocortical physiology and Lewy body disease: A review
Esmaeeli, S., Murphy, K. P., Swords, G. M., Ibrahim, B. A., Brown, J. W., & Llano, D. A. (2019) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.06.006 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
A Computational Account of the Development and Evolution of Psychotic Symptoms
Powers, A. R., Angelos, P. A., Bond, A., Farina, E., Fredericks, C. A., Gandhi, J., Greenwald, M. S., Hernández-Busot, G., Hosein, G. X., Kelley, M., et al. (2024) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.08.026 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“…in the predictive processing computational framework (24) and the related Bayesian Brain hypothesis (25), many theories have emerged to describe how individual psychotic symptoms might emerge from alterations in how the brain models its environment and incorporates new information (20,21,26–28).”
BackgroundA predictive coding account of psychotic symptoms in autism spectrum disorder
van Schalkwyk, G. I., Volkmar, F. R., & Corlett, P. R. (2017) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3065-9 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“Higher cortical areas communicate predictions top-down through feedback connections (and NMDA glutamate receptor signaling) to lower sensory areas (Friston 2005a).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialBerthet, P., Kotaleski, J. H., & Lansner, A. (2012) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00065 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“Basal ganglia (BG) are believed to be critically involved in action selection (Graybiel, 1995, 2005; Mink, 1996).”
BackgroundStorm on predictive brain: A neurocomputational account of ketamine antidepressant effect
Bottemanne, H., Berkovitch, L., Gauld, C., Balcerac, A., Schmidt, L., Mouchabac, S., & Fossati, P. (2023) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105410 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“…dendrites of pyramidal neurons located in the layers I, II, III, and V, while bottom-up projections report PE by targeting neurons in the cortical layer IV (Rao and Ballard, 1999; Friston, 2005a; Coogan and Burkhalter, 1990; Cauller et al., 1998; Shipp et al., 2013; Felleman and Van Essen, 1991).”
InfluentialDoes hallucination perceptual modality impact psychosis risk?
Niles, H. F., Walsh, B. C., Woods, S. W., & Powers, A. R. (2019) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/acps.13078 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“If hallucinations may be conceptualized as a dominance of perceptual priors over sensory evidence during perceptual inference (43, 44), auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) may result from the impact of socially driven priors at higher levels along the ventral auditory processing hierarchy (45).”
BackgroundHallucinations in Charles Bonnet Syndrome Induced by Homeostasis: a Deep Boltzmann Machine Model
Seriès, P., Reichert, D., & Storkey, A. (2010) · neural information processing systems · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Chhabra, H., Sowmya, S., Sreeraj, V. S., Kalmady, S. V., Shivakumar, V., Amaresha, A. C., Narayanaswamy, J. C., & Venkatasubramanian, G. (2016) · Asian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2016.08.006 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“associated with deviant predictive coding that can lead to loss/ attenuation of error prediction with resultant AVH (Fletcher and Frith, 2009; Friston, 2005; Nazimek et al., 2012).”
BackgroundEmergence and Dynamics of Delusions and Hallucinations Across Stages in Early Psychosis
Mourgues, C., Benrimoh, D. A., Gandhi, J., Farina, E. A., Vin, R., Zamorano, T., Parekh, D., MALLA, A. K., Joober, R., Lepage, M., et al. (2025) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.02.891 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Resting State Effective Connectivity Allows Auditory Hallucination Discrimination
Graña, M., Ozaeta, L., & Chyzhyk, D. (2017) · International Journal of Neural Systems · doi:10.1142/s0129065717500198 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Suzuki, K., Seth, A. K., & Schwartzman, D. J. (2024) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2023.1159821 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“Within this framework, VHs can be broadly understood as resulting from aberrant inference in which this balance is disrupted in some way (Friston, 2005; Powers et al., 2016; Corlett et al., 2019; Zarkali et al., 2019).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialReconciling competing mechanisms posited to underlie auditory verbal hallucinations
Thakkar, K. N., Mathalon, D. H., & Ford, J. M. (2020) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0702 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“The powerful contribution of expectation to perception spurred the idea that hallucinations might arise when prior predictions exert an inordinate influence over perceptual inferences, creating percepts with no corresponding external stimuli at all [2,41].”
BackgroundIllusions, hallucinations, and visual snow
Fraser, C. L., & Lueck, C. J. (2021) · Handbook of clinical neurology · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-821377-3.00014-3 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Counterfactual cognition and psychosis: adding complexity to predictive processing accounts
Rappe, S., & Wilkinson, S. (2022) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2022.2054789 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“Finally, when it comes to hallucinations, an alternative view, in which hallucinations occur due to enhanced rather than weakened top-down predictive signaling, has also been proposed (Corlett et al., 2019; K. J. Friston, 2005).”
BackgroundOscillatory Traveling Waves Provide Evidence for Predictive Coding Abnormalities in Schizophrenia
Alamia, A., Gordillo, D., Chkonia, E. D., Roinishvili, M., Cappe, C., & Herzog, M. H. (2024) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.11.014 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Perceptual pathways to hallucinogenesis
Sheldon, A. D., Kafadar, E., Fisher, V., Greenwald, M. S., Aitken, F., Negreira, A. M., Woods, S. W., & Powers, A. R. (2022) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2022.02.002 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
The “Bottom-Up” and “Top-Down” Components of the Hallucinatory Phenomenon
Aleman, A., & Vercammen, A. (2012) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-4121-2_6 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Dauwan, M., Hoff, J. I., Vriens, E. M., Hillebrand, A., Stam, C. J., & Sommer, I. E. (2019) · NeuroImage Clinical · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101752 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“One hypothesis is that purely VH reflect a hypocholinergic status, while non-visual hallucinations may be related to other factors such as dopaminergic medication (Goetz et al., 1998; McAuley and Gregory, 2012).”
BackgroundTomassini, A., Pollak, T. A., Edwards, M. J., & Bestmann, S. (2019) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.02.003 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“A Bayesian model of hallucinations posits that dopaminergic up-regulation can lead to a systematic underestimation of the uncertainty of predictions resulting in hallucinatory percepts reflecting excessive biases toward sensory expectations (Friston, 2005).”
BackgroundDonaldson, K. R., Jonas, K. G., Foti, D., Larsen, E. M., Mohanty, A., & Kotov, R. (2022) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291722003075 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“Findings are thus also consistent with evidence linking auditory hallucinations to reduced PE in response to sensory input (Friston, 2005; Nazimek, Hunter, & Woodruff, 2012; Sterzer et al., 2018), and support the notion that aberrant PE in psychotic illness may be implicated in the development and maintenance of such…”
Computational Models of Hallucinations
Jardri, R., & Denève, S. (2013) · The Neuroscience of Hallucinations · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-4121-2_16 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Altered short-term neural plasticity related to schizotypal traits: Evidence from visual adaptation
Thakkar, K. N., Antinori, A., Carter, O. L., & Brascamp, J. W. (2018) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2018.04.013 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“The robust correlationwith the positive dimension of schizotypy is particularly intriguing as it is in line with theoretical (Friston, 2005) and empirical (Powers et al., 2017) work suggesting that abnormalities in perceptual learning, putatively subserved by dysregulated short-term plasticity, are…”
Badcock, J. C. (2015) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-015-0270-3 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“…however, the current line of thinking is that AVH (and therefore potentially TI as well) may arise from an imbalance between perceptual expectations (i.e., heightened predictions) and actual sensory input, related to deficiencies in processing prediction error (Friston 2005; Nazimek et al. 2012).”
BackgroundSchubotz, R. I. (2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-397025-1.00247-5 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
20 Years of Aberrant Salience in Psychosis: What Have We Learned?
Corlett, P. R., & Fraser, K. M. (2025) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.20240556 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Sensed Presence, Attenuated Psychosis, and Transliminality: At the Threshold of Consciousness
Rosen, C., Park, S., Baxter, T., Tufano, M., & Giersch, A. (2023) · Psychopathology · doi:10.1159/000528572 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Current cognitive models of hallucinations and delusions suggest that anomalous and unusual perceptual events necessitate a top-down account to reconcile the discrepancy between observed experience with expected outcomes [70].”
BackgroundColombo, M., & Fabry, R. E. (2021) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2021.1914828 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“The basic idea of PP explanations of mental disorders is that they consist in false inferences performed by the brain (e.g., Fletcher & Frith, 2009; Friston, 2005).”
BackgroundLeptourgos, P., Bouttier, V., Denève, S., & Jardri, R. (2021) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104593 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Théories du complot et COVID-19 : comment naissent les croyances complotistes ?
Bottemanne, H. (2022) · L'Encephale · doi:10.1016/j.encep.2021.12.005 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“Ce principe a été utilisé pour comprendre de nombreux phéomènes perceptuels, cognitifs, et affectifs, comme la perception isuelle binoculaire [68], la focalisation attentionnelle [69], la étacognition [70], les phénomènes hallucinatoires [71], la déterination de la valence émotionnelle [72] ou encore les variations de…”
Intact Serial Dependence in Schizophrenia: Evidence from an Orientation Adjustment Task
Pascucci, D., Roinishvili, M., Chkonia, E. D., Brand, A., Whitney, D. C., Herzog, M. H., & Manassi, M. (2024) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbae106 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Yazd, M. F., Kasten, F. H., Altaş, G., Aleman, A., Ćurĉić‐Blake, B., & Herrmann, C. S. (2021) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2021.602437 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“…the corresponding mechanisms has been hypothesized to give rise to perceptual abnormalities such as hallucinations, i.e., perceptions in the absence of a corresponding external stimulus (Friston, 2005) and illusions, i.e., perceptions that deviate from the original stimulus (Langguth et al., 2013).”
BackgroundDuhamel, E., Mihali, A., & Horga, G. (2023) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0692-22.2023 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“The neural implementation of this type of mechanism may depend on multiplicative scaling of topdown expectation signals as a function of prior variance, which could be encoded in transients in neuromodulators such as dopamine or acetylcholine (Friston, 2005; Friston et al., 2012), although this has not been directly s…”
InfluentialNeural networks underlying visual illusions: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis
von Gal, A., Boccia, M., Nori, R., Verde, P., Giannini, A. M., & Piccardi, L. (2023) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120335 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“Particularly, this is the basis of Bayesian perceptual inference accounts (Friston, 2005a) in which the backward connections from higher order visual areas provide contextual guidance to lower levels through the predictions of the lower level’s inputs (i.e., the forward flow of information lower to…”
InfluentialBayesian inference and hallucinations in schizophrenia
Siemerkus, J., Tomiello, S., & Stephan, K. E. (2019) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awz211 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“Historically, the first concepts of schizophrenia as a disorder of hierarchical Bayesian inference, due to abnormal predictive coding, were proposed nearly 15 years ago (Friston, 2005b; Stephan et al., 2006).”
BackgroundMethodMiskovic, V., Lynn, S. J., Bagg, J. O., Pouliot, J. J., Ríos, M., & Wackermann, J. (2019) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.01.014 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“In addition to modulating electrical fields, pharmaceutical manipulations can also be used to test the hypothesis that glutamatergic signaling at NMDA receptors instantiates the recurrent waves of feedback processing that embed perceptual priors (Corlett et al., 2009; Friston, 2005a).”
InfluentialA novel model of divergent predictive perception
Reeder, R., Sala, G., & van Leeuwen, T. V. (2024) · Neuroscience of Consciousness · doi:10.1093/nc/niae006 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
L’esprit predictif : introduction à la théorie du cerveau bayésien
Bottemanne, H., Longuet, Y., & Gauld, C. (2022) · L Encéphale · doi:10.1016/j.encep.2021.09.011 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- Friston, K. J.
- Affiliations
- UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Friston, Karl J.
- ORCID
- Friston, Karl J.
- Venue
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2005-12
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 764-766
- ISSN
- 0140-525X (ISSN-L)
- 1469-1825
- OpenAlex
- W2011459890
- Cited by
- 196
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 0.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- discovery.ucl.ac.uk
- Locations
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Hallucinations in medical conditions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- hallucinations, perceptual inference, cholinergic system, uncertainty encoding, Bayesian hierarchical model
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