Brain Rules for Baby (John Medina) / quote 48 of 91
Perception as a handshake with expectations
The second reason content is so important is that our expectations and assumptions profoundly influence our perception of reality. This is because of the brain’s eager willingness to insert its opinion directly into what you are currently experiencing—and then fool you into thinking this hybrid is the actual reality. It may disturb you to know this, but your perception of reality is not like a camcorder recording verbatim information to some cellular hard drive. Your perception of reality is a handshake agreement between what your senses bring to your brain and what your brain thinks ought to be there. And what you expect to be out there is directly tied to what you allowed into your brain in the first place. Experiences morph into expectations, which can, in turn, influence your behavior.