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In recent years, scientists have discovered the
human brain works on predictions, contrary to the
previously accepted theory that it reacts to the
sensations it picks up from the outside world.
Experts say humans’ reactions are in fact the body
adjusting to predictions the brain is making based
on the state of our body the last time it was in a
similar situation.
Now, Distinguished University Professor Lisa Feldman
Barrett at Northeastern has reported finding the
epicenter of those predictions.
In an article published in Nature Reviews
Neuroscience, Barrett contends that limbic tissue,
which also helps to create emotions, is at the top
of the brain’s prediction hierarchy.
She co-authored the paper with W. Kyle Simmons, of
the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa,
Oklahoma.
“The unique contribution of our paper is to show
that limbic tissue, because of its structure and the
way the neurons are organized, is predicting,”
Barrett said. “It is directing the predictions to
everywhere else in the cortex, and that makes it
very powerful.”
For example, when a person is instructed to imagine
a red apple in his or her mind’s eye, Barrett
explained that limbic parts of the brain send
predictions to visual neurons and cause them to fire
in different patterns so the person can “see” a red
apple.
Barrett is a faculty member in the Department of
Psychology and is director of the Interisciplinary
Affective Science Laboratory. A pioneer in the
psychology of emotion and affective neuroscience,
she has chalenged the foundation of affective
science by showing that people are the arcitects of
their own emotional experiences.
In the Nature paper, Barrett summarized research on
the cellular composition of limbic tissue, which
shows that limbic regions of the brain send but do
not receive predictions.
This means that limbic regions direct processing in
the brain. They don’t react to stimulation from the
outside world.
This is ironic, Barrett argues, because when
scientists used to believe that limbic regions of
the brain were the home of emotion, they were seen
as mainly reactive to the world.
Common sense tells you that seeing is believing, but
really the brain is built for things to work the
other way around: you see (and hear and smell and
taste) what you believe.
And believing is largely based on feeling.
In her paper, Barrett shows that your brain is not
wired to be a reactive organ. It’s wired to ask the
question: “The last time I was in a situation like
this, what sensations did I encounter, and how did I
act?” And the sensations that seem to matter most
are the ones that are inside your own body, which
are called “interoceptions.”
“What your brain is trying to do is guess what the
sensation means and what’s causing the sensations so
it can figure out what to do about them,” Barrett
said. “Your brain is trying to put together
thoughts, feelings, and perceptions so they arrive
as needed, not a second afterwards.”
See also
How humans predict other's decisions
For more information
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