What is it

Predictive processing is a neuroscience-informed perspective for understanding how people function to optimise outcomes in the world. Within the academic literature, predictive processing has become an increasingly popular framework for explaining many aspects of human functioning, including behaviour, emotion, learning, well-being, consciousness, and psychopathology. More details about the links between predictive processing and human functioning are available in the research section. 

The Predictive Processing Framework   

According to the predictive processing perspective, functioning in the world requires the integration of the person’s internal predictive processes and external environment via their actions and perceptions.

Predictive Process

At its core, the predictive processing perspective suggests that one of the primary purposes of our brain is to predict what is likely to happen now and in the future. These predictions, which are implicitly generated from moment to moment, are created based on our internal model of our body in the world - that is, our current understanding (or belief) of how the world works - and our observations of the current context. These predictions are then continuously refined via an error minimisation process, which attempts to reduce the discrepancy between what we predicted and our interpretation of actual events.

In situations where our predictions reflect actual events, operating in the world occurs comparatively effortlessly. However, when mismatches are detected, we are positioned to mobilise resources - such as attentional, emotional, and behavioural mechanisms - to update our predictions and/or take action to change our current context.

For example, if we were to naturally awake in the morning, we may predict that we have woken before our alarm clock has sounded. However, if we observe more sunlight in the room than is typical at our wake-up time, we are positioned to update our prediction to ‘perhaps, I have slept through my alarm’ and engage in actions to find out what the time is.

The Environment

The predictive processing perspective refers to the environment as the wider world outside of our internal operations. This description of the environment is intentionally broad and includes aspects such as the physical world, bodily movements, and social dynamics. Importantly, the environment in which we operate contains an abundance of information which may be directly observable via our senses (such as what we can see, hear, touch, taste, and smell) or hidden within the current context (e.g., social norms and rules). This environmental information influences how we operate in the world and the opportunities available to us.   

Action and Perception Loops

The predictive processing perspective states that people function in the environment via their actions and perceptions. Our actions - such as physical movements and communications - are considered the primary way in which we influence the environment. At the same time, the primary way the environment influences us is by our perception of sensory information from it. In our moment-to-moment experiences, actions and perceptions operate reciprocally (in ongoing loops) such that every action we undertake changes the information in the environment, which changes our perceptions of the environment and our subsequent actions.