The Good Life with Michele Lamoureux Leading Neuroscientist, How Your Brain Colors Your Perception of the World with Dr. Daniel Yon
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Oct 22, 2025 Dr. Daniel Yon, experimental psychologist and neuroscientist who directs The Uncertainty Lab and wrote A Trick of the Mind, explores how our brains build theories from experience. He discusses how prediction shapes perception, misheard meanings, intuition as rapid prediction, social spread of confidence, and the value of broadening perspectives to better understand others.
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Brain As An Internal Scientist
- Your brain acts like a scientist, building theories from past data to predict the world.
- These internal theories shape perception so you experience your brain's model, not raw reality.
Perception Depends On Priors
- Perception depends on prior expectations because sensory input is ambiguous and noisy.
- The right prior clarifies experience, but priors also systematically distort what you perceive.
Misheard Lyrics Reveal Predictive Perception
- Misheard song lyrics (e.g., "kiss this guy" vs "kiss the sky") show the brain's probabilistic interpretations.
- Your brain prefers the most likely meaning based on past experience, producing convincing misperceptions.
