When you think of how you experience the world, you might imagine your brain as a passive receiver of information taking in sights, sounds, and feelings and reacting accordingly. Surely, I am thinking, I am having a positive or negative reaction to a situation? I am being triggerrd. But what if your brain is actually a prediction machine, actively shaping your reality before any stimulus even hits you? Sounds crazy? Read on...
This idea is at the core of the top-down theories championed by leading scientists Lisa Feldman Barrett and Anil Seth. Their groundbreaking work reveals that perception and emotion are not simply reactions to the world but are actively constructed by the brain. Let’s dive into how these theories are reshaping our understanding of the human mind.
Lisa Feldman Barrett: Emotions as Predictions, Not Reactions
AS you may have notived already, I am a bit of a Dr. Barrett fan. She challenges the traditional notion of emotions as hardwired responses. Instead, her Theory of Constructed Emotion posits that emotions are created by the brain based on context, prior experiences, and goals.
Her key Insights are:
Your Brain Predicts 1st and feels 2nd (that idea is quite hard to get my head around if I am completely honest)
Emotions are not triggered by the world around you. Instead, your brain uses past experiences to predict what’s happening, crafting your emotional response in real-time.
For instance, a racing heart could signify excitement, fear, or even love—depending on how your brain interprets the situation.
Culture & language shape emotions
Language and cultural context play a significant role in constructing emotions. The more nuanced your emotional vocabulary, the more your brain can tailor your experiences.
What This Means for You
You have more control over your emotional responses than you might think. By reframing situations or expanding your understanding of emotions, you can influence how your brain predicts and reacts.
Anil Seth: Perception as a "Controlled Hallucination"
If you get a chance, listen to Dr. Anil Seth youtube keynote speeches, I find them truly inspiring. He takes a similar approach to perception to Dr Barret's, arguing that what you see, hear, and feel is less about what’s “out there” and more about what’s in your head.
Key Insights:
The Predictive Brain
According to Seth, the brain doesn’t just passively receive sensory data—it predicts what’s happening based on past experiences and adjusts when reality doesn’t match up.
This process is why we sometimes see optical illusions or mishear lyrics in a song—our brain is trying to fill in the gaps.
Interoception and the Sense of Self
Seth emphasizes interoception, the perception of your internal bodily states, as central to your experience of being “you.”
Your brain predicts your internal states to maintain balance (homeostasis), shaping not just how you feel but who you are.
Why It Feels Real
Seth describes perception as a “controlled hallucination,” where your brain’s best guesses about the world create your sense of reality. The more accurate the prediction, the more coherent your reality feels.
Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up: What’s the difference?
Bottom-Up: Traditional theories suggest the brain reacts to external stimuli in a linear, stimulus-response manner.
Top-Down: Barrett and Seth argue that your brain anticipates what’s happening based on prior knowledge, then interprets sensory inputs to refine these predictions.
This shift from reaction to prediction is transforming how we understand emotions, perception, and even the sense of self. Can we change the course of our lives? This is a question I ask myslef, certainly the way we perceive the world around us is entirely due to us? What do you make of this?
So, why does this matter?
Personal Growth
Knowing that your emotions and perceptions are constructed gives you the power to influence them. Reframing a challenging situation, for instance, can lead to entirely different emotional outcomes.
Mental Health
Top-down theories highlight the importance of context and mindset, offering new approaches to therapy and emotional regulation.
Cutting-Edge AI
These insights into prediction and perception are influencing artificial intelligence, steering it toward models that predict and learn like the human brain.
The takeaway: Your brain shapes your own reality
Barrett and Seth’s top-down theories show that we don’t just react to the world, we create it. Now, that I think is rather 'cool'.
Emotions are constructed, perceptions are predictions, and your sense of reality is a collaboration between your brain’s best guesses and sensory feedback.
By understanding these processes, you can take a more active role in shaping your emotional and perceptual experiences. So, next time you feel overwhelmed or misinterpret a situation, remember: your brain’s predictions aren’t set in stone, you have the power to rewrite them.
Which of your predictions will you challenge today?
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