2020 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 48-53
Sensitivity to patterns is fundamental to sensory processing, in particular in the auditory system, and a major component of the influential `predictive coding' theory of brain function. Supported by growing experimental evidence, the `predictive coding' framework suggests that perception is driven by a mechanism of inference, based on an internal model of the signal source. However, a key element of this theory –- the process through which the brain acquires this model, and its neural underpinnings –- remains poorly understood. Here I review recent brain imaging and behavioural work which focuses on this missing link. Together these emerging results paint a picture of the brain as a regularity seeker, rapidly extracting and maintaining representations of acoustic structure on multiple time scales and even when these are not relevant to behaviour.