Can expectation suppression be explained by reduced attention to predictable stimuli

The expectation-suppression effect - reduced stimulus-evoked responses to expected stimuli - is widely considered to be an empirical hallmark of predictive coding. Here we challenge this notion by proposing that this phenomenon can also be explained by a reduced attention effect. Specifically, we argue that predictable stimuli attract less attention because they are less behaviourally relevant. To resolve whether expectation suppression is best explained by attention or predictive coding, additional research is needed to determine whether attention effects precede the encoding of expectation violations (or vice versa) and to reveal how expectations change neural representations of stimulus features.