December 4, 2025Open Access

Feature-specific predictive processing: What’s in a prediction error?

Key Points

High-level surprise influences prediction errors in the brain, enhancing understanding of predictive processing.
Evidence suggests that even early sensory areas encode high-level surprise through predictive processing mechanisms.
Exploration of sensory prediction errors highlights their role beyond just redundancy reduction in interpretation of signals.
Insights may shift how predictive processing theories are conceptualized, bringing focus to higher-level cognitive functions.

Abstract

Abstract Despite numerous studies reporting sensory prediction errors - a key component of predictive processing theories - the nature of the surprise represented in these errors remains largely unknown. Here we highlight recent studies, which provide evidence that prediction errors, even in early sensory areas, may reflect high-level surprise, offering new insights into the role of predictive processing in the brain beyond classical accounts of redundancy reduction.

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