predictive coding

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Author-approved definition.

Definition

Predictive coding (Friston, Clark). A strategy for efficiently representing information by encoding the difference between predicted and actual signals rather than repeatedly transmitting predictable content. Applied to the brain, it describes a proposed neural mechanism in which higher processing levels send predictions downward, while residual prediction errors travel upward to revise those predictions. Predictive coding is a central mechanism within the broader framework of predictive processing, but the two are not synonymous.

AB — The Actual Book

Source-verified occurrence; see the printed-page references below.

Occurrence locators: 99.

RB2 — The Real Book, Volume II: Becoming Is Being

Book scope recorded in the author-approved amendment; a separate treatment has not been supplied.

Occurrence locators: 107, 112, 113, 114.

Sense distinctions

Author definition

Predictive coding (Friston, Clark). A strategy for efficiently representing information by encoding the difference between predicted and actual signals rather than repeatedly transmitting predictable content. Applied to the brain, it describes a proposed neural mechanism in which higher processing levels send predictions downward, while residual prediction errors travel upward to revise those predictions. Predictive coding is a central mechanism within the broader framework of predictive processing, but the two are not synonymous.

Author-approved scope: AB, RB2.

Background used in the editorial explanation

The author-approved definition and sense distinctions are preserved. The author approved extending the scope to AB and RB2 on 29 October 2026; AB printed page 99 is a verified occurrence.