Predictive coding, interoception, and affect

Abstract

Lisa Feldman-Barrett, who has promoted a psychological constructivism theory of affect, recently proposed the Embodied Predictive Interoception Coding (EPIC) model of affect, on the basis of the perspective of predictive coding. The theoretical framework of predictive coding argues that the brain creates inner models which can provide predictions for perception and motor movement, and that perception and behaviors are emerged from Bayesian computations rooted on the predictions. The EPIC model expands this perspective into interoception, which is perception of inner body states, and tries to explain phenomena of affect as integrative experiences based on interoception. This article introduces concepts of the EPIC model and examines the model by referencing to empirical findings.