The theory of predictive processing posits that the brain computes expectations to process information predictively. Empirical evidence in support of this theory, however, is scarce and largely limited to sensory areas. Here, we report a precise and adaptive mechanism in the frontal cortex of non-human primates consistent with predictive processing of temporal events. We found that the speed of neural dynamics is precisely adjusted according to the average time of an expected stimulus. This speed adjustment, in turn, enables neurons to encode stimuli in terms of deviations from expectation. This lawful relationship was evident across multiple experiments and held true during learning: when temporal statistics underwent covert changes, neural responses underwent predictable changes that reflected the new mean. Together, these results highlight a precise mathematical relationship between temporal statistics in the environment and neural activity in the frontal cortex that may serve as a mechanism for predictive temporal processing.

预测处理理论假设大脑计算预期以预测性地处理信息。然而，支持这一理论的经验证据很少，而且主要局限于感觉区域。在这里，我们报告了非人类灵长类动物额叶皮层中与时间事件的预测处理一致的精确和自适应机制。我们发现神经动力学的速度是根据预期刺激的平均时间精确调整的。反过来，这种速度调整使神经元能够根据与预期的偏差对刺激进行编码。这种合法的关系在多个实验中都很明显，并且在学习过程中也是如此：当时间统计数据发生隐蔽变化时，神经反应会发生可预测的变化，反映出新的均值。一起，