Trends in Neurosciences
Volume 36, Issue 12, December 2013, Pages 706-716
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Opinion
Reflections on agranular architecture: predictive coding in the motor cortex

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2013.09.004Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Predictive coding explains the recursive hierarchical structure of cortical processes.

  • Granular layer 4, which relays ascending cortical pathways, is absent from motor cortex.

  • Perceptual inference results if ascending sensory data modify sensory predictions action, if spinal reflexes enact descending motor and/or proprioceptive predictions.

  • Motor layer 4 regresses as motor predictions inherently require less modification.

The agranular architecture of motor cortex lacks a functional interpretation. Here, we consider a ‘predictive coding’ account of this unique feature based on asymmetries in hierarchical cortical connections. In sensory cortex, layer 4 (the granular layer) is the target of ascending pathways. We theorise that the operation of predictive coding in the motor system (a process termed ‘active inference’) provides a principled rationale for the apparent recession of the ascending pathway in motor cortex. The extension of this theory to interlaminar circuitry also accounts for a sub-class of ‘mirror neuron’ in motor cortex – whose activity is suppressed when observing an action –explaining how predictive coding can gate hierarchical processing to switch between perception and action.

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