How can we play together? Temporal inconsistencies in neural coding of music

Abstract

If sensory organs encode environment, this code must be decoded to perception. The currently dominant theory of perception - predictive coding - assumes a "Bayesian decoder," a probability function, which will present (to whom?) an optimal guess, given previous encodings of the environment - old codes testing new codes. Such a process would delay perception noticeably. This is inconsistent with the perception of music, which for several reasons must be direct.