The power of our fleshy brain to control our perceptions is well established, but it’s still hard to really believe, sometimes. It’s tempting to think of ourselves as perfect observers, passively gathering data and information. But however real reality may seem, it’s just whatever our brains our feeding us. We all have various biases that, unknown to us, color how we see and interpret information.
Confirmation bias is a particularly prominent way humans get things wrong. Make a decision, or even just hold an opinion on something, and from then on your sneaky brain will make you think any new information will support your previous choice. Whether you’re considering whom to support in the next election or what schools to apply to, confirmation bias can subtly reinforce our already-formed opinions if we’re not careful.
In a Current Biology study out today, a team of psychologists and neuroscientists laid out just ...
