A predictive coding account of value-based learning in PTSD: Implications for precision treatments

Posttraumatic reexperiencing and alcohol use: mediofrontal theta as a neural mechanism for negative reinforcement

“…In summary, our study shows mediofrontal theta elicited by losses exhibits opposing influences of intrusive reexperiencing and heavy drinking. This finding aligns with recent predictive coding models of PTSD (Kube et al, 2020; Putica et al, 2022), suggesting that chronic alcohol use might functionally reduce the intensity of salient negative prediction errors, thereby providing some relief from negative emotional reactivity. These insights not only deepen our understanding of the unique influences of PTSD and heavy drinking on brain salience signaling, but also suggest new avenues for neurobiologically-informed interventions.…”

Mental health meets computational neuroscience: A predictive Bayesian account of the relationship between interoception and multisensory bodily illusions in anorexia nervosa

“…Unfortunately, existing treatments only partially target these issues. Given the promising new research avenues that were inspired by earlier predictive coding accounts of mental diseases (Smith et al, 2021, Liddle & Liddle, 2022, Putica et al, 2022, we think this perspective can also offer unique insights and study into the understanding of mechanisms of AN and into providing better treatment options.…”

“…The fundamental assumption of this paradigm is that the brain functions as an active inference machine that actively learns the statistical patterns of the outside environment and develops predictions to improve the efficiency of information processing and sensorium comprehension. In this view, mental health is the outcome of an "embodied self" that (Putica et al, 2022): (1) anticipates the sensory input it will experience if one course of action or another is chosen, (2) acts upon the environment and changes it according to expectations and desires, (3) experiences the result of action selection, (4) modifies itself both at cognitive (subjective expectations) and bodily (proprioceptive and interoceptive states) levels, and (5) updates pre-existing models in response to unexpected results. This vision has led to the emergence of a new research fieldclinical computational neuroscience (Smith et al, 2021) -that suggests how mental problems can be interpreted as the outcome of a dysfunction in the representations (predictions) of the inner and outer worlds generated by the brain.…”

Interoceptive interventions for posttraumatic stress: A systematic review of treatment and interoception outcomes.

“…Similarly, interoceptive processes have also been implicated in learning (see Putica, Felmingham, et al, 2022), with Paulus and Stewart (2014) positing that interoception is fundamentally involved in hedonic and incentive motivational processes. To this end, one can consider misinterpretation of an individual’s internal state or dysregulation in interoception processing as perpetuating maladaptive behaviors such as impulsivity and avoidance.…”