Prediction errors and attention in the presence and absence of feedback

ABSTRACT—Contemporary theories of learning typically assume that learning is driven by prediction errors—in other words, that we learnmorewhen our predictions turn out to be incorrect than we do when our predictions are correct. Results from the recording of electrical brain ac-tivity suggest one mechanism by which this might happen; we seem to direct visual attention toward the likely causes of previous prediction errors. This can happen very rap-idly—within less than 200milliseconds of the error-causing object being presented. It is tempting to infer that if learning is driven by prediction errors, then little can be learned in the absence of feedback. Such a conclusion is unwarranted. In fact, the substantial learning that is sometimes the result of simple exposure to objects can also be explained by processes of directing attention toward th