Can you trust your brain?

Our brains have a way of playing tricks on us - like that ringing in our ears known as tinnitus . It’s a sound in your head, created to make up for hearing loss. And that’s not the only way minds create the world we live in. Can you trust your brain? Your brain interprets reality for you. But how good of an interpreter is it? Jonquilyn Hill is the host of Explain It to Me , your hotline for all your unanswered questions. She joined Vox in 2022 as a senior producer and then as host of The Weeds , Vox’s policy podcast. “I study whether The Matrix is a movie or a documentary,” Pascal Wallisch, a professor of data science, neuroscience, and psychology at NYU, told Vox. Whether our senses are simply transmitting objective reality - or creating an artificial, subjective one. “Everything that you perceive is filtered for your sensory organs and then goes for your brain,” Wallisch said. “ If we assume that you have a unique brain - which I do - then you are bringing a lot of yourself to what you experienced.” What are other ways things aren’t what they seem, and why do our brains function like this in the first place? We answered those questions on the latest episode of Explain It to Me , Vox’s weekly call-in podcast. Below is an excerpt of our conversation with Wallisch, edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get podcasts. If you’d like to submit a question, send an email to askvox@vox.com or call 1-800-618-8545. In the case of tinnitus, our brain creates a sound that’s not actually there. Does our brain do this for the other senses as well? In a nutshell, yes. For instance, neuropathic itch, where you think there’s something itching you, but it’s in your mind. But I want to be very clear: It is very real in your mind, even though your mind generates it. I’m sure you have seen faces in clouds that were not there. This is actually very common. You’re seeing meaning everywhere. I’ve looked up at the clouds and seen things. That’s my brain constructing my visual reality? Yes. My biggest flex is that I figured out why some people see the dress, the infamous black and blue/white and gold dress that surfaced in February of 2015. What did you see it as, white and gold or black and blue? I saw black and blue, but my friends saw white and gold. And are you more like a night owl or more like a morning person? I have developed into a morning person. But you historically are a night owl, yes? Yes. There you go. We had a study where we showed, yes, some people legitimately see as white and gold, some as black and blue. It has to do with your assumptions about lighting. If you assume the dress was...

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