Transcript:

Here's an interesting paper from Nature Human Behavior. It says, "Visual working memory directly alters perception." What this means is, whatever is actively happening in the brain changes how signals are perceived by the brain.

Here is an excellent example I found on the internet. Listen to this:

(muffled speaking)

Now, listen to this:

"They're buying some bread."

Okay, now listen to the first clip again:

(muffled speaking)

Here's a different one. First, this:

(muffled speaking)

Now, this:

"The kettle boiled quickly."

And back to the previous one:

(muffled speaking)

So you see, between the first time you heard the clip and the second time you heard the clip, a bias was introduced, and that changes how the second time the clip was processed by the brain. And this is actively happening all the time. Our brain already has some impressions in it. And then when new signals come, it changes. It alters how we perceive those new signals.

Very interesting.