Figure 5.

Predictive processing. Higher-order functional units generate hypotheses of the sensory world within canonical predictive coding circuits, and confront them to incoming sensory information (also processed in canonical predictive coding circuits of lower-order networks). A feedback of the prediction is returned to sensory lower-order networks (orange arrows), and, in case of mismatch, a feedforward error message is sent to higher-order units with estimation of the precision of this information (blue thin arrows). Alteration of feedback to lower-order sensory systems would result in unconsciousness, and alteration of feedforward in disconnected consciousness. Inspired by Seth and Bayne⁹ and Sanders and colleagues.¹²⁰ Drawn with BioRender.