All articles tagged with #predictive processing
Functional neurological disorder (formerly hysteria/conversion disorder) causes real, disabling symptoms despite normal brain tests. Neuroscience links symptoms to brain networks that predict movement and sensation, with mismatches driving the disturbance. Though common—millions affected in the US—care access is limited and stigma persists, but multidisciplinary treatments and clinician belief can improve outcomes.
Neuroscientists Lisa Feldman Barrett and Earl Miller argue that the brain constructs categories on the fly through predictions before sensory input, meaning we infer what we’re seeing (like a cat) based on past experience, bodily signals, and language. This predictive view challenges bottom-up ideas of perception and ties bias, beginner’s mind, and even mental-health concepts to how we categorize the world.
Scientists have discovered that the human brain doesn't see exactly what is in front of us but instead predicts what will happen next based on expectations and memory, using less visual processing when predictions are accurate. This finding highlights the brain's efficiency and the role of memory in perception.