This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta.

One of the most enduring puzzles of the human brain is that when we look inward, we see

what feels like a complete picture.

We perceive our feelings, remember memories, and make plans for the future.

Over the last several decades, however, psychologists have shown that significant portions of our

minds are in fact hidden from us.

The operate outside or below the spotlight of conscious awareness.

Here's a simple way to demonstrate this.

I'll ask you a question and you give me an answer.

Here's the question.

Fill in the last word in the sentence.

The 4th of July is celebrated as Independence Day in the United States of...

...Blank.

Okay, you think.

That was too easy.

It's the United States of America, of course.

But take a moment and reflect on what just happened inside your brain.

You heard my question, which is to say, the sound waves carrying my voice entered your

ear, were converted into electrical signals and sent to your brain.

Neural networks transform these signals into words, into a sentence, decoded what it meant,

and figured out the meaning of the question.

Systems in your brain that produced reasoning and memory retrieved the answer to the question.

...