The brain actively generates what it expects to see, not what is actually there

Evidence

Nietzsche famously claimed that ‘there are no facts’ and so our subjective interpretations of the world are all we have. It turns out that whilst Nietzsche and I probably have different views about the nature of truth, he wasn’t entirely off the mark when it comes to the role of interpretation. The major benefit of top-down cognition is that it helps the brain fill in gaps in your visual field by drawing on prior experiences and expectations of what the world should look like. In fact, the brain is generating an image of what it expects to see. It makes inferences, a best guess of what should be there, based on cues in your environment combined with things you know to be true. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 61

Categorization

• XREF: This is the predictive-processing/predictive-coding view (Clark, Friston) — links to any material on Bayesian brains and generative models. — connects to: The predictive brain fills in visual gaps based on expectation. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 62; Perception is a brain interpretation that need not use all sensory detail — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1323; Attention actively constitutes reality, not merely reacts to it — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 422 (+1 more)
• SEED: Seed for an essay or explanation piece: the ‘expectation economy’ of the mind — how a brain built to generate what it expects is structurally vulnerable to engineered predictions (misinformation, propaganda, deepfakes).

Broader Connections

• The predictive brain fills in visual gaps based on expectation. #corroborates (0.95) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 62
• Perception is a brain interpretation that need not use all sensory detail #expands (0.85) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1323
• Attention actively constitutes reality, not merely reacts to it #complicates (0.75) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 422
• Unnoticed items in the sensory field still shape thinking and action #complicates (0.75) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 366