Is Reality Even Real? Your Brain Constructs the World You Experience
About this episode
This episode explores how the brain constructs our perception of reality and the implications for mental health and relationships.
What if you've never actually experienced objective reality? In this episode of Decoded , Elisabeth McKay explores one of the most profound questions in neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology: How does the brain transform information into the world you believe you're experiencing? From color and sound to pain, emotion, memory, and meaning, your brain isn't passively recording reality— it's actively constructing it. This episode breaks down how perception is created through predictive processing, sensory translation, and childhood conditioning , revealing why two people can witness the exact same event and walk away with completely different experiences. In this episode, Elisabeth explores: Why your brain never directly experiences reality How the brain constructs color, sound, touch, and pain The neuroscience of perception and consciousness Why atoms are mostly empty space Predictive processing and Bayesian brain theory Interoception and its role in anxiety and panic Phantom limb syndrome and the brain's model of reality How childhood experiences shape adult perception Why memories and emotions influence every experience Brain Pattern Mapping and the roots of self-deception Why…
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