Conventionally, we think that our minds are reactive—they take in sensory input, process it and tell us how to respond. Our body runs low on water, we experience symptoms of dehydration, and the brain responds by signalling thirst.
Latest research, however, reverses this order. Our brain gives us a signal to drink water well before we’re experiencing any symptoms of dehydration. What’s more, as we drink water, our cell’s activity changes with each sip of water even though it takes tens of minutes for the water to actually have any physiological effect, such as increase in blood pressure, which is one of the body’s main indicators of hydration.
The mind predicts rather than reacts
In his book, the Experience Machine, cognitive scientist and philosopher Andy Clark, proposes that our minds don’t passively react, but actively predict. Conventionally, we think that we take in information through the senses, process it, create a model of the world, and respond to this model. What Andy Clark suggests however is that this order works in reverse: our mind creates a model of the world which then shapes our sensory perceptions.
“Contrary to the standard belief that our senses are a kind of passive window onto the world, what is emerging is a picture of an ever-active brain that is always striving to predict what the world might currently have to offer. Those predictions then structure and shape the whole of human experience, from the way we interpret a person’s facial expression, to our feelings of pain, to our plans for an outing to the cinema.” – Andy Clark
We don’t just take in information and then experience it, we’re constantly making and re-making predictions about what we expect to experience.
The model we build of the world therefore is not the result of the information we take in, it informs what information we perceive and how we perceive it. In other words, our experience of reality is not a feature of reality itself, it’s a feature of our expectation of reality.
How we think we perceive and respond to reality:
Sensory input > Model of the world > Experience > Response
How we actually respond to reality:
Model of the world > Sensory input > Experience > Response
The theory that our brain predicts rather than responds to experience has far-reaching implications for our mental and physical health, our cognition, and our general interaction with the world. It also demonstrates that our brains work against our best interest in two major ways.
The predictive brain: we perpetuate our past
We experience what we expect to experience. And what we expect to experience is heavily shaped by what we’ve experienced in the past. Our perception of what’s currently unfolding is a factor of our expectations of what may happen, rather than a result of the actual experience.
“When the brain strongly predicts a certain sight, a sound, or a feeling, that prediction plays a role in shaping what we seem to see, hear, or feel.” – Andy Clark
If we expect to feel pain, we are likely to feel it. if we expect to fail at something, we’re likely to do so. Studies on the honest placebo effect show that placebos have an effect even when people are aware that they are placebos.
Neurologically, our brain is trying to perpetuate our past. Our past disappointments create an expectation of disappointment which then leads to disappointment.
The protective brain: we resist changing our expectations
Our brain is also working against the discomfort of changing our expectations. We favour the familiarity of what we already know, of our current map of the world, over the novelty of changing our model of the world. Our brain works to minimise cognitive dissonance, by looking to reinforce our already existing ideas and beliefs.
“Instead of constantly expending large amounts of energy on processing incoming sensory signals, the bulk of what the brain does is learn and maintain a model of body and world.” – Andy Clark
Developing a new cognitive map of the world, changing our views and preconceived notions is threatening and the brain works to protect us against it by favouring to maintain existing beliefs rather than modify them.
This explains why we often find ourselves advocating for our views, even when they are not in our favour. People would insist that they can’t possibly change, even when they want to change.
The clash between the predictive and protective functions
Cognitively, the predictive and protective functions of our brain exert a pressure against our cognitive and intellectual expansion—which can be problematic when we want to change, transcend past experiences and get rid of views that don’t serve us.
We are driven by deeply-ingrained instinctive responses to our environment. But, by virtue of consciousness, we have the option to interrupt and examine our instinctive behaviours and question our responses to them.
Understanding that our brains are exercising an evolutionary pressure against changing our minds and opening our thinking by preferring the safety of our current worldview can be helpful in overcoming any resistance to change that may be holding us back.