The basal ganglia select the expected sensory input used for predictive coding.

While considerable evidence supports the notion that lower-level interpretation of incoming sensory information is guided by top-down sensory expectations, less is known about the source of the sensory expectations or the mechanisms by which they are spread. Predictive coding theory proposes that sensory expectations flow down from higher-level association areas to lower-level sensory cortex. A separate theory of the role of prediction in cognition describes "emulations" as linked representations of potential actions and their associated expected sensation that are hypothesized to play an important role in many aspects of cognition.

Emulation as an integrating principle for cognition.

Emulations, defined as ongoing internal representations of potential actions and the futures those actions are expected to produce, play a critical role in directing human bodily activities. Studies of gross motor behavior, perception, allocation of attention, response to errors, interoception, and homeostatic activities, and higher cognitive reasoning suggest that the proper execution of all these functions relies on emulations. Further evidence supports the notion that reinforcement learning in humans is aimed at updating emulations, and that action selection occurs via the advancement of preferred emulations toward realization of their action and environmental prediction.

Dissociation of fMRI activation and awareness in auditory perception task.

To investigate the relationship between activity in sensory cortex, and the experience of sensory stimuli, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of temporal cortex was performed while subjects indicated their perception of speech sounds combined with noise. Auditory cortex activation was found to decrease with decreasing stimulus saliency. Speech stimuli presented at an intensity level near auditory threshold produced significant activation in temporal cortex even when subjects did not report perception of stimuli.

Neuronal synchrony in relation to burst discharge in epileptic human temporal lobes.

1. Synchronous interactions between neurons in mesial temporal structures of patients with complex partial seizures were studied using cross-correlation analyses. We recorded spontaneous activity from 293 neurons in 24 patients during the interictal state.

Interspike intervals during interictal periods in human temporal lobe epilepsy.

We recorded 259 single neurons from mesial temporal lobe structures of 21 patients with complex partial seizures. Interspike intervals within clusters of action potentials (clustered interspike intervals) recorded from cells in mesial temporal structures ipsilateral to seizure initiation were compared to clustered interspike intervals in the contralateral temporal lobe. 'Clusters' were defined as any group of three or more spikes separated by intervals of less than a defined maximum, or two spikes separated by less than half that maximum.