Prediction of Perception
Brigid K. Turner · Annals of Psychophysiology · 2025
Background: The intricate relationship between perception, sensory input, and internal expectations significantly shapes our understanding of the world. Perception emerges from the interplay of incoming sensory information and top-down predictions, with prior personal experiences playing a vital role in both interpreting and influencing our perception of our environment. Objective: This literature review proposes new directions for future studies using the predictive processing model to study the collaboration of sensory information with cognitive predictions, taking into account the role of psychiatric conditions, trait absorption, and psychedelics in perceptual processing. Methodology: We reviewed the current literature on perception, multisensory integration, and biorhythms to understand the factors influencing the effect of predictions on sensory processing. Additionally, we applied the predictive processing model to explain how perceptual priming’s influence on emotional awareness and interoception results in paranormal experiences. Results: This review indicates many different factors influence predictive processing, including interoception, psychiatric conditions, trait absorption, and psychedelics. Analysis of the relevant research suggests that the administration of psychedelics and levels of high trait absorption facilitate the emergence of new sensory integration pathways, cultivating the potential for novel or transcendent experiences. Conclusion: This review reveals a variety of factors affecting perceptual processes. Based on the application of the predictive processing model, this review suggests that future studies on perception should focus on reducing the role of expectation in the perceptual processes by means of the administration of psychedelics or the selection of individuals with high levels of trait absorption. A greater understanding of the power of prediction on our perception has the potential to impact the way we experience pain, hunger, thirst, temperature, and even anxiety and depression. Such knowledge could open new doors for treatments or medical interventions.