Neurotypica

The brain runs a generative forecast of what should happen next, and when predictions match incoming data, processing is fast and automatic. This means your expectations aren't decorative---they're the first draft of perception and action. The system will tend to confirm what it predicts unless the mismatch signal is strong enough to override it.

So what can you do? If you want a behaviour to run reliably, make it predictable. Design contexts so the right cue loads the right forecast before the moment arrives. And when you want to change behaviour, remember you're not just fighting the old response---you're fighting the prediction that generated it. Change what the system expects by changing the pattern it's learned to predict.

Predictive processing adjusts how much weight to give prediction errors based on precision---how confident is the model, and how trustworthy is the incoming signal? When predictions are precise, errors get treated as noise and the model stays stable. When predictions are imprecise, errors drive rapid updating. This is why the same mismatch can feel trivial in one context and urgent in another.

So what can you do? Manage the confidence of your predictions. If you're stuck in a rigid pattern, lower precision deliberately---introduce controlled variation so the system treats mismatches as signal rather than noise. If you're updating too readily and can't settle, increase precision by practising in stable conditions until the pattern consolidates. Confidence is tunable, and tuning it changes what updates and what persists.

Because the brain minimises expected prediction error, most behaviour reflects whichever action is cheapest: change the world to match predictions, change predictions to match the world, or update the model for next time. Acting on a confident prediction is usually cheaper than revising it, which is why habits persist even when you 'know better'---the forecast loads automatically and running it costs less than stopping it.

So what can you do? Don't try to override defaults in the moment. Instead, retrain them in advance so the cheap option is the one you want. Preload the right prediction by designing cues that reliably precede the desired action, and practise until the forecast runs without effort. You're not adding willpower; you're making the default correct.

Predictive processing doesn't generate objective perceptions---it generates purposive ones. The model predicts what matters given your current goals, bodily state, and history. This means perception is always a distortion, always a frame, always an ideology in the sense that it transforms some chaos into meaning while sacrificing other meaning to chaos. There's no view from nowhere.

So what can you do? Recognise that changing your frame changes what you perceive and what actions become available. If a pattern isn't serving you, the issue isn't that you're 'seeing it wrong'---it's that the frame you're using makes certain features relevant and others invisible. Shift the goal, shift the context, shift the bodily state, and the predictions shift with them. You're not correcting bias; you're choosing a better distortion.