7 things a neuroscientist knows but most people don’t

Getty Images/Dan Kitwood

What are some things neuroscientists know that most people don't? appeared as a question on Quora. Below we are republishing an answer from Paul King, a computational neuroscientist.

Where to start? 

There are hundreds of surprising, perspective-shifting insights about the nature of reality that come from neuroscience.

Every bizarre neurological syndrome, every visual illusion, and every clever psychological experiment reveals something entirely unexpected about our experience of the world that we take for granted.

Here are a few to give a flavor:

 

1. Perceptual reality is entirely generated by our brain

Reuters/Bobby Yip

We hear voices and meaning from air pressure waves. We see colors and objects, yet our brain only receives signals about reflected photons.

The objects we perceive are a construct of the brain, which is why optical illusions can fool the brain.

2. We see the world in narrow disjoint fragments

Reuters/Miguel Vidal

We think we see the whole world, but we are looking through a narrow visual portal onto a small region of space. You have to move your eyes when you read because most of the page is blurry.

We don't see this, because as soon as we become curious about part of the world, our eyes move there to fill in the detail before we see it was missing. While our eyes are in motion, we should see a blank blur, but our brain edits this out.

3. Body image is dynamic and flexible

AP

Our brain can be fooled into thinking a rubber arm or a virtual reality hand is actually a part of our body.

In one syndrome, people believe one of their limbs does not belong to them. One man thought a cadaver limb had been sewn onto his body as a practical joke by doctors.

 

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