Prioritizing the unexpected: New brain mechanism uncovered

Neurons in the mouse visual cortex with VIP neurons in magenta. Credit: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre Researchers have discovered how two brain areas, the neocortex and the thalamus, work together to detect discrepancies between what animals expect from their environment and actual events. These prediction errors are implemented by selective boosting of unexpected sensory information. These findings enhance our understanding of predictive processing in the brain and could offer insights into how brain circuits are altered in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). The research, published in Nature, outlines how scientists at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at UCL Read More