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We investigate the way the brain learns and how predictive processing might affect health. Our patented learning aid enables our clients to change their sensory perceptions and their wellbeing. A proof-of-concept study with Brunel University showed the learning aid's efficacy in restoring a loss of taste and smell; the study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology in July 2023.
If brains predict our perceptions, can we change the predictions and change our perceptions?
If brains predict our perceptions, can we change the predictions and change our perceptions?
Predictive processing is a theory that redefines how we understand our sensory perception compared to traditional views of brain function. Instead of passively receiving information through our senses, predictive processing proposes that our brains construct a mental model of the world to generate predictions. These predictions are continuously compared against incoming sensory data for accuracy. When discrepancies arise, the predictions may be adjusted, creating a new model - this is learning.
This process of predictive adjustment operates constantly, although we are not always conscious of it. Each update to the mental model requires energy, but the brain prioritises energy conservation. It will tend to do what it already can do to conserve energy. The theory is that updates to the mental model occur when there is a significant discrepancy between the predicted and actual sensory input.
Watch this two minute video that clever demonstration of how predictive processing works.
Recovering loss of taste and smell
Recovering loss of taste and smell
COVID-19 illustrated how our perceptions of taste and smell can be altered. Some people lost their sense of taste and smell, others didn't, and certain tastes and smells became disgusting for some people. Some people recovered their accurate senses quickly, others didn't. People's responses were hugely variable. Using the predictive processing theory, we can hypothesize how this change in perception might have occurred.
Viral infection changed perceptions of taste and smell. These are new neural networks of brain predictions.
Viral infection ended. Some people recovered pre-COVID-experience brain predictions for taste and smell - their perceptions became 'normal' again. Others didn't. Instead, their predicting brain continued to use the updated COVID-experience taste and smell predictions.
We carried out a proof-of-concept study with Brunel University to retrain these predicted tastes. We used our approach to carry out this work with individuals who were stuck with brain predictions of faulty taste and smell. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology in July 2023.
"The intervention was extremely well received, with no dropouts related to the intervention. There was also a significant improvement in smell and taste from pre- to post-CVFLA intervention ... both in subjective and objective measures. All participants, except one, reported experiencing some improvement from the 2nd or 3rd session."
Camera-based visual feedback learning aid for recovering sense of smell and taste in COVID-19 survivors: a proof-of-concept studyThis study confirms that our approach is an efficient way to retrain smell and taste post-COVID. We have also applied the approach to the loss of taste and smell that may be experienced through ageing. We apply our approach to individuals requiring different sorts of perceptive changes, such as experiencing fullness after eating, reducing the desire for sugary foods, or a more stable sense of balance.
Image courtesy of Greg Dunn
If brains predict and regulate our physical health, can we change our wellbeing?
If brains predict and regulate our physical health, can we change our wellbeing?
We are researching how predictive processing creates learnt experiences that affect physical health. Do natural inflammatory responses become learnt and continuous - creating what medicine labels as 'chronic'? We are investigating whether these chronic responses are learnt maladaptations that can be replaced with learnt adaptations.
For example, we believe a loss of satiation from food is a learnt maladaptation - the dopamine prediction error has reduced the sense of fullness to such an extent that the individual can no longer feel it. Just like a loss of taste and smell, the sense has been lost. Could this maladaptation be replaced with a learnt adaptation, for example, a sense of fullness and satiation comes from the food, and the individual no longer feels the inclination to overeat?
In our work, we see that movement abilities, balance, clarity of thought (brain fog), stiffness and chronic pain can all be retrained using the same approach used in the Brunel proof-of-concept study to address taste and smell.
Our guided learning programme
Our guided learning programme
In one-to-one sessions, we guide our clients through our learning programme to retrain their perceptions and body schema (your internal model of your own body).
We also offer bespoke restorative programmes to meet an individual’s specific needs.
Learning is a biological process that takes time and repetition before the brain establishes new, accurate predictions. We work with people over the short term and also in ongoing relationships. Everyone learns and develops new responses differently, and each individual experiences change at different speeds.
Some of what you will learn...
Some of what you will learn...
An understanding of our interpretation of the predicting nature of the brain and the process of learning.
What valance is and how it is created. Learning to bank positive valance.
Regulating practices including our body-led breathing technique - which we believe is akin to how we may breathe when we are asleep - and a thumb hold that promotes relaxation.
The role of fascia: Fascia can stiffen as we age. Stiff fascia generally feels uncomfortable, whereas soft fascia generally feels pleasant (positive valence). To integrate the benefits of soft fascia into everyday activities, we use hot oil, touch, electronic massagers, and walking exercises.
The influence of gravity and using resistance training for bone health.
Sleep and meditation training, understanding the role of the eyes and how to effortlessly enter a meditative state, or a different state of choice.
Fix metabolic energy prediction errors (which you probably experience as apprehension, doubt, dread and avoidance) through a series of physical exercises using balance, jumping, hopping and movement.
Learning to learn adaptively, understanding the moment of ‘now’ and what to do with it.
Nourishment, experiencing yourself eating on camera and understanding how food becomes the building blocks of cells.
Vision as a sense: using exercises to learn how predictions and sensory data create vision.
Cognitive exercises including learning to remember and understanding how memories work.
Using verses, a sort of poem that we think of as code for the brain, to open up an understanding of the work in a more expressive way, with space to reflect on what it means to the client.
How the brain is formed socially, and how social norms and injustices affect the ways we think and feel.
As we guide individuals through the programme, we weave in the introduction of something new by repeating and extending learnt processes. Sometimes, the complexity of the learning means that there are a number of different elements to focus on. Each of these needs to be worked through separately and then integrated as a whole.
Learning to 'make new sense' is the work that we do
Learning to 'make new sense' is the work that we do
About Learning Just Became Easier
About Learning Just Became Easier
Over more than ten years, Jacky Bryant has developed and patented a learning aid and methodology using camera-based visual feedback. Clients have worked with her as part of research projects to improve handwriting, memory, visual processing, sensory perceptions, or physical abilities as they experience the journey of a learnt recovery or simply improve their skills.
Contact & fees
Contact & fees
Email us to find out more about starting your guided learning programme; we are based near St Albans in Hertfordshire.
We believe in creating fair pricing, reflecting the value of the work and what clients can afford. Hourly sessions with project lead Jacky Bryant cost £100-150 per hour. Sessions with our trainees range from £50-70 per hour.
Measuring progress with a biological marker
Measuring progress with a biological marker
For those looking to measure progress externally, we are interested in the potential of the GlycanAge test. The test results provide a ‘biological’ age, which can be different to an individual’s chronological age. Read about the usefulness of this biomarker on the GlycanAge website.
Discover the science behind our work
Discover the science behind our work
This video describes the neurological and physiological processes that effect our mental health. How do anti-depressents change the way we percieve the world? How should we use placeboes? Is dopamine really just about rewards?
The predictive processing theory frames much of our work. This talk has some useful demos and a good introduction to the theory at the beginning. Watch the whole lecture for a deeper dive into the topic.
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