Predictive neural representations of naturalistic dynamic input

The neural processes underlying the prediction of unfolding external dynamics are not well understood. Here, the authors combine magnetoencephalography and naturalistic dynamic stimuli and show predictive neural representations of observed actions which are hierarchical in nature. Adaptive behavior such as social interaction requires our brain to predict unfolding external dynamics. While theories assume such dynamic prediction, empirical evidence is limited to static snapshots and indirect consequences of predictions. We present a dynamic extension to representational similarity analysis that uses temporally variable models to capture neural representations of unfolding events. We applied this approach to source-reconstructed magnetoencephalography (MEG) data of healthy human subjects and demonstrate both lagged and predictive neural representations of observed actions. Predictive representations exhibit a hierarchical pattern, such that high-level abstract stimulus features are predicted earlier in time, while low-level visual features are predicted closer in time to the actual sensory input. By quantifying the temporal forecast window of the brain, this approach allows investigating predictive processing of our dynamic world. It can be applied to other naturalistic stimuli (e.g., film, soundscapes, music, motor planning/execution, social interaction) and any biosignal with high temporal resolution.