Neural mechanisms of predictive processing: a collaborative community experiment through the OpenScope program
Abstract
This review synthesizes advances in predictive processing within the sensory cortex. Predictive processing theorizes that the brain continuously predicts sensory inputs, refining neuronal responses by highlighting prediction errors. We identify key computational primitives, such as stimulus adaptation, dendritic computation, excitatory/inhibitory balance and hierarchical processing, as central to this framework. Our review highlights convergences, such as top-down inputs and inhibitory interneurons shaping mismatch signals, and divergences, including species-specific hierarchies and modality-dependent layer roles. To address these conflicts, we propose experiments in mice and primates using in-vivo two-photon imaging and electrophysiological recordings to test whether temporal, motor, and omission mismatch stimuli engage shared or distinct mechanisms. The resulting dataset, collected and shared via the OpenScope program, will enable model validation and community analysis, fostering iterative refinement and refutability to decode the neural circuits of predictive processing.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2504.09614,
title = {Neural mechanisms of predictive processing: a collaborative community experiment through the OpenScope program},
author = {Ido Aizenbud and Nicholas Audette and Ryszard Auksztulewicz and Krzysztof Basiński and André M. Bastos and Michael Berry and Andres Canales-Johnson and Hannah Choi and Claudia Clopath and Uri Cohen and Rui Ponte Costa and Roberto De Filippo and Roman Doronin and Séverine Durand and Steven P. Errington and Jeffrey P. Gavornik and Colleen J. Gillon and Arno Granier and Jordan P. Hamm and Loreen Hertäg and Henry Kennedy and Sandeep Kumar and Alexander Ladd and Hugo Ladret and Jérôme A. Lecoq and Alexander Maier and Patrick McCarthy and Jie Mei and Jorge Mejias and John Hongyu Meng and Fabian Mikulasch and Noga Mudrik and Farzaneh Najafi and Kevin Nejad and Hamed Nejat and Karim Oweiss and Mihai A. Petrovici and Viola Priesemann and Lucas Rudelt and Sarah Ruediger and Simone Russo and Alessandro Salatiello and Walter Senn and Eli Sennesh and Sepehr Sima and Cem Uran and Anna Vasilevskaya and Julien Vezoli and Martin Vinck and Xiao-Jing Wang and Jacob A. Westerberg and Katharina Wilmes and Yihan Sophy Xiong},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.09614},
year = {2026}
}