Canales‐Johnson, Andrés

Abstract Prediction errors (PEs) drive perceptual learning by updating internal models of the sensory environment, yet it remains unclear how attention reshapes their representation across distributed thalamocortical circuits. Using intracranial stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) from 17 patients performing a roving auditory oddball task under attended and unattended conditions, we quantified PE encoding using mutual information and co-information to capture redundant and synergistic PE representations. Attention modulated PE encoding in both the thalamus and the temporal cortex, but with distinct informational dynamics. Thalamic encoding showed a stable reduction of PE information during distraction, consistent with state-dependent thalamocortical gating. In contrast, the temporal cortex expressed two opposing learning trajectories during attended listening that converged once attention was diverted, revealing distinct cortical learning regimes rather than a uniform attentional effect. Attention further reorganized the informational content of cortical PE representations by altering the balance between redundant and synergistic information. A biologically constrained neural network showed that attention-dependent changes in inhibition and long-range connectivity reproduced these dynamics through Hebbian learning. Together, these findings suggest that attention regulates predictive learning not simply by changing the strength of PE responses, but by reshaping how distributed thalamocortical circuits represent and integrate sensory evidence over time.

Abstract The cortex generates diverse neural dynamics, ranging from broadband fluctuations to narrowband oscillations at specific frequencies. Here, we investigated whether broadband and oscillatory dynamics play different roles in the encoding and transmission of visual information. We used information-theoretical measures to dissociate neural signals sharing common information (i.e., redundancy) from signals encoding complementary information (i.e., synergy). We analyzed electrocorticography (ECoG) and local field potentials (LFP) in the visual cortex of human and non-human primates (macaque) to investigate the extent to which broadband signals (BB) and narrowband gamma (NBG) oscillations conveyed synergistic or redundant information about images. In both species, the information conveyed by BB signals was highly synergistic within and between visual areas. By contrast, the information carried by NBG was primarily redundant within and between the same visual areas. Finally, the information conveyed by BB signals emerged early after stimulus onset, while NBG sustained information at later time points. These results suggest a potential dual role of BB and NBG cortical dynamics in visual processing, with broadband dynamics supporting nonlinear pattern recognition and oscillations facilitating information maintenance across the cortex.