Big Think Can you trust your own brain? A neuroscientist explains | Heather Berlin
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Aug 17, 2025 
Neuroscientist Heather Berlin delves into the fascinating world of perception, revealing how our unique experiences shape our individual reality. She discusses the interplay between internal expectations and external inputs, highlighting how our brain's filtering system can create cognitive biases. Berlin emphasizes that by understanding these illusions, we can transform our perception and enhance our empathy. She also discusses how a shift in mindset can profoundly impact our experiences, empowering us to find joy amid life’s complexities.
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Perception Is A Constructed Experience
- Perception is built from internal expectations meeting external sensory input to create subjective experience.
- Each brain is unique and shaped by life, so no one can directly know another's first-person experience.
Brains Are Sculpted By Experience
- The brain prunes and strengthens neural connections based on experience to form a defined structure.
- Our perception is an illusion in that the mind constructs a simplified version of the external world.
Attention Filters Reality
- Attention acts like a spotlight that determines conscious awareness from abundant unconscious processing.
- Your mental state biases which aspects of the environment you perceive and remember.