How the Brain Compresses Our Noisy World
About this episode
This episode explores how the brain categorizes sensory signals differently based on context, such as hunger and fatigue.
If you are well rested and full, your brain tells you that a bruised overripe apple is a piece of subpar fruit to be passed over. However, if you are exhausted and hungry, an overripe apple is categorized as much-needed food. But how is the brain able to categorize that same apple in these situations? On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, co-host Hannah Waters speaks with contributing writer Conor Feehly about how the brain manages to categorize similar sets of sensory signals in radically different ways. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, hear the people behind the award-winning publication navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.
People in this episode
Host: Hannah Waters
Guest: Conor Feehly
Topics covered
- brain function
- sensory perception
- categorization
- psychology
- hunger
- decision making
Keywords
- brain
- categorization
- sensory signals
- hunger
- psychology
- decision making
- Quanta Magazine
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Quanta Magazine
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