Paper links Freud’s theories to predictive brain research
University of Oslo researchers say predictive neuroscience overlaps with psychoanalytic ideas about expectation, perception and therapy.
By Priya Raghavan · Science Reporter
3 min read
A new paper argues that a leading model of brain function has close ties to ideas developed in psychoanalysis since Sigmund Freud. The comparison matters because it could give researchers a shared way to study both brain mechanisms and subjective experience, according to the University of Oslo.
The paper, published in the neurocognitive journal Entropy, was written by Erik Stänicke, Bendik Sparre Hovet and Line Indrevoll Stänicke of the university’s Department of Psychology. The authors examine Freud’s model of the mind through the lens of predictive processing, a theory that treats the brain as an organ constantly forming expectations about the world.
Under that neuroscientific model, the brain forecasts what is likely to happen and adjusts those forecasts when sensory information does not fit. Researchers use the theory to explain parts of perception, behavior and emotional regulation, according to the University of Oslo.
Shared ground between two fields
Stänicke and his colleagues argue that psychoanalysis has long described related processes at the level of personal experience. Neuroscience, in their account, focuses on biological and computational systems, while psychoanalysis looks at how expectations shape a person’s inner life and relationships.
One example cited by the researchers is projection, a psychoanalytic concept in which people attribute feelings, motives or traits to others. Stänicke said the idea resembles predictive processes because prior expectations help structure how people interpret other people and social situations.
The authors also connect the predictive brain model to psychoanalytic thinking about repeated relationship patterns. According to the researchers, earlier interactions can shape later expectations, which may influence how a person reads new encounters even when the new situation differs from the past.
The paper compares this with two concepts in predictive neuroscience: changing one’s own predictions, known as perceptual inference, and acting in ways that make the world match those predictions, known as active inference.
Implications for mental health
The researchers say both frameworks describe the mind as seeking stability and predictability. In predictive processing, the brain reduces uncertainty by relying on expectations; in psychoanalytic theory, the mind may repeat familiar relational patterns even when they do not serve the person well, according to Stänicke.
That overlap may help explain some persistent symptoms, the authors argue. Stänicke cited paranoid ideas and an internalized critical voice as possible examples of prediction models that remain stable but lack flexibility.
In the researchers’ account, a person might expect criticism, rejection or hostility and then interpret situations through that expectation, even when events do not justify it. Such models may endure because they reduce uncertainty, despite distorting perception.
The paper also argues that expectations are not stored only as conscious beliefs. Stänicke said they can be rooted in procedural memory and expressed through ways of relating to others.
That point has consequences for psychotherapy, according to the authors. They argue that therapy may need to work through the relationship between therapist and patient, because new relational experiences can slowly alter established patterns.
The researchers say predictive neuroscience could offer a biological basis for some psychoanalytic ideas, while psychoanalysis could help neuroscience describe how predictions are experienced in ordinary life. Their paper, “Freud’s Model of the Mind Within a Predictive Processing Neuroscientific Paradigm,” appeared in Entropy in 2026.
This story draws on original reporting from ScienceDaily.