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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...
Understanding the Predictive Brain and Learning
An introduction to how the brain predicts and how learning works through updating those predictions.
What valence is, how it is constructed, and how to build a store of positive valence.
How to learn adaptively by understanding the present moment and knowing how to respond to it.
Exercises in memory and cognition: learning to remember, and understanding how memories are formed, maintained, and updated.
Regulation and Sensory Recalibration
Body-led regulation practices, including a natural breath—as if you were asleep—and a simple hand position to support calm.
Guidance in sleep and meditation, including how the eyes influence state shifts and how to access restful or altered states without effort.
Understanding the role of anticipation—often felt as doubt, dread, or avoidance—through movement practices and whole-body activities.
Fascia, Movement and Physical Form
How movements are learnt through experience—and how they can be updated.
The role of fascia: fascia tends to stiffen with age. Stiff fascia often feels uncomfortable, while soft fascia generally feels pleasant.
We work with hot oil, touch, electronic massagers, and walking to help integrate soft fascia into everyday movement.
Understanding the effects of gravity and how resistance-based movement supports bone health.
Sensory Experience and Self-Perception
Vision as a constructed sense: learning how the brain combines prediction and sensory data to create what we see.
A different approach to nourishment: watching yourself eat on camera, understanding how food becomes the building blocks of your cells.
Time is a learnt sense. We can understand how to engage with time effectively and effortlessly.
Expression, Meaning and Social Learning
Exploring meaning through language. We use verses—short, expressive writings that we see as ‘code for the brain’—to help reflect on personal experience in a new way.
How the brain develops through social experience—and how norms and injustice shape how 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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