Abstract
The brain is thought to generate internal predictions to optimize behaviour. However, it is unclear whether predictions signalling is an automatic brain function or depends on task demands. Here, we manipulated the spatial/temporal predictability of visual targets, and the relevance of spatial/temporal information provided by auditory cues. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure participants’ brain activity during task performance. Task relevance modulated the influence of predictions on behaviour: spatial/temporal predictability improved spatial/temporal discrimination accuracy, but not vice versa. To explain these effects, we used behavioural responses to estimate subjective predictions under an ideal-observer model. Model-based time-series of predictions and prediction errors (PEs) were associated with dissociable neural responses: predictions correlated with cue-induced beta-band activity in auditory regions and alpha-band activity in visual regions, while stimulus-bound PEs correlated with gamma-band activity in posterior regions. Crucially, task relevance modulated these spectral correlates, suggesting that current goals influence PE and prediction signalling.
Highlights
The notion that the brain generates internal predictions to optimize behaviour is well established [1,2,3]
Because prediction error (PE) are thought to be scaled by expected precision [48,49], our results suggest that predictions might be encoded shortly after the cue onset, but their effects on target processing will entail a modulation of target-induced PE activity
Beyond showing spectrally and regionally specific responses corresponding to predictions and PEs, our results indicate that these responses are strongly modulated by their task relevance
Summary
The notion that the brain generates internal predictions to optimize behaviour is well established [1,2,3]. Incoming sensory or neural inputs—that are unexplained by predictions—translate into sensory prediction error (PE) signals. These “newsworthy” signals induce neural responses [4], which are thought to be propagated up sensory hierarchies in higher frequency bands such as gamma [5,6]. The modulation of alpha- and beta-band activity due to anticipatory predictions has been demonstrated in several modalities (visual: [7,8], auditory: [9,10], somatosensory: [11], motor: [12], see [13]). Gamma-band PE signalling has been shown in visual [14] and auditory cortices [9,15]
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