I think there is a both /and here. Not all emotions are constructed. If you inhaled 35% carbon dioxide you would get a panic response. You have chemo receptors that are prewired for that - and most of what we think/feel is related to what we've learned - much of it before we had language (hence the difference between explicit and implicit memory). The human brain does develop from the bottom up. The brainstem and limbic areas are more developed at younger ages - and the neural system is very plastic. I think the usefulness of both models is that they convey that when our sympathetic nervous system is over active, we respond differently than when we are in a more balanced state. A simpler way of talking about that is the "window of tolerance".... And a simple way of visualizing it, for kids especially is Dan Siegel's model of the brain in the hand.
There are other therapeutic implications as well. Dr. Perry's model and his experience with humans exposed to deep adversity shows that you can actually map which "pieces of neural circuitry" are missing and that to be effectively therapeutic you are best starting from the "bottom up" in the order that the brain developed: neurosensory, self - regulational, relational and finally cognitive. Non of that negates the model of the "predictive brain" - and it aligns with a model that follows brain growth and development - which is important in understanding and supporting brains that have been exposed to adversity.