Colourful predictive templates in early visual cortex

Predictive processing theories suggest that our brain constantly predicts incoming sensory information, though the level of granularity and concrete sensory content of these predictions is debated. In this study, we investigate whether predictions in visual cortical areas carry information about colour before the onset of the anticipated stimulus. Thirty-seven human participants viewed coloured disc stimuli presented in a predictable sequence, enabling the brain to form expectations about the upcoming colour, while the brain response was tracked with high spatiotemporal resolution (combined electro-and magnetoencephalography). A decoding model trained on a separate colour localizer dataset could successfully reconstruct the predicted colour during the pre-stimulus period, where only a grey placeholder was present. Thereby, our findings demonstrate that early visual regions of the brain form anticipatory representations of colour information, in the absence of external colour input, yet in a representational format similar to veridical sensory input.