Thalamic and cortical signals synergistically represent auditory prediction errors

Researchers recorded local field potentials from the medial and lateral geniculate nuclei and electrocorticography from multiple cortical regions in three awake cats during two auditory prediction tasks. Mutual information analyses revealed prediction error encoding in both thalamic and cortical signals, with evidence of synergistic contributions between the two levels. The findings suggest the thalamus actively participates in predictive processing, not just as a relay but as a source of prediction-error signals. This work could reshape hierarchical models of sensory processing and has implications for understanding thalamocortical dynamics in neuropsychiatric conditions where prediction errors are disrupted.