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Related Experiment Video

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Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Published on: November 9, 2011

What is Bottom-Up and What is Top-Down in Predictive Coding?

Karsten Rauss¹, Gilles Pourtois

¹Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tübingen Tübingen, Germany.

Frontiers in Psychology

|June 5, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This review clarifies the ambiguous concepts of bottom-up and top-down processing in psychology and neuroscience. It proposes a new framework using predictive coding to redefine these fundamental cognitive processes.

Keywords:

V1 bottom-up predictive coding top-down vision

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Area of Science:

Cognitive psychology
Neuroscience
Computational neuroscience

Background:

The terms "bottom-up" and "top-down" are widely used but lack precise definitions in scientific literature.
This ambiguity hinders clear communication and understanding of cognitive and neural processes.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically evaluate the current understanding and limitations of bottom-up and top-down processing.
To propose a novel reformulation of this distinction based on predictive coding principles.

Main Methods:

Literature review and conceptual analysis.
Examination of existing definitions and applications of bottom-up and top-down concepts.
Theoretical integration with predictive coding models.

Main Results:

Identified significant conceptual ambiguities and inconsistencies in the use of bottom-up and top-down terminology.
Demonstrated the limitations of current frameworks in fully explaining cognitive and neural functions.
Proposed predictive coding as a unifying framework to redefine these processes.

Conclusions:

The traditional dichotomy of bottom-up and top-down processing is insufficient and requires re-evaluation.
Predictive coding offers a more robust and integrated model for understanding information flow in the brain.
Reframing these processes through predictive coding can advance research in psychology and neuroscience.