The Helmholtzian view inverts this framework, proposing that signals flowing into the brain from the outside world convey only prediction errors – the differences between what the brain expects and what it receives. Perceptual content is carried by perceptual predictions flowing in the opposite (top-down) direction, from deep inside the brain out towards the sensory surfaces. [...] A number of experiments are now indicating that consciousness depends more on perceptual predictions, than on prediction errors.
A summary of some recent neuroscience research about consciousness:
https://aeon.co/essays/the-hard-problem-of-consciousness-is-a-distraction-from-the-real-one