Predictions and errors are distinctly represented across V1 layers

‘Predictive processing’ frameworks of cortical functioning propose that neural populations in different cortical layers serve distinct roles in representing the world. There are distinct testable theories within this framework that we examined with a 7T fMRI study, where we contrasted responses in primary visual cortex (V1) to expected (75% likely) and unexpected (25%) Gabor orientations. Multivariate decoding analyses revealed an interaction between expectation and layer, such that expected events could be decoded with comparable accuracy across layers, while unexpected events could only be decoded in superficial laminae. These results are in line with predictive processing accounts where expected virtual input is injected into deep layers, while superficial layers process the ‘error’ with respect to expected signals. While this account of cortical processing has been popular for decades, such distinctions have not previously been demonstrated in the human sensory brain. We discuss how both prediction and error processes may operate together to shape our unitary perceptual experiences.