Understanding Your Brain – Vol. 3/4

By Mina Ayoub, Communications Executive at EFG Hermes.

Real or Reality?

Your sense of reality is based solely on what your brain interprets based on the information it stores and the way it is uniquely built. Around 3% of the population have a condition called Synthesia, which is the inter-crossing of senses. To these people, they see different letters or numbers in different colors and sometimes, words to them are mixed with images. Colorblind people see the world differently as well, due to the how their retinas function differently than those with regular vision. In fact, the truth is, color does not really exist at all, we just perceive it. The world in essence is almost colorless, we only perceive different colors when light falls on objects; due to the composition of the object, different wavelengths allow us to perceive different colors, also depending on our retinas and hence, how our brains interpret this inflow of data.

Some people suffer from a condition called Schizophrenia, which is a result of chemical imbalances in the brain. These people will sometimes experience and report events that might not have happened, but to them are very real. During some schizophrenic seizures, some will believe their houses are talking to them, some would believe they killed 10 people when in fact they never harmed a fly, but believe that because they think they are bad people, so the guilt of murder feels very real. Some will even see and have conversations with people who are not there. In some prisons, such as the historic Alcatraz in San Francisco, prisoners who violate rules would be sent to solitary confinement, to spend hours and days in an absolute pitch black, soundproof room. Starving the brain of sensory input causes the brain to “fill in the gaps” and produce hallucination such as seeing people who are not there or hearing voices, simply because the brain is used to receiving information.

Language also plays a large role in how we experience the world. Some languages are perceived as aggressive and give off negative vibes, while some as romantic to give off positive vibes. However, the power of language goes far beyond that. Some tribes in Northern Australia do not use “left” and “right” however use cardinal directions, and would describe directions using east and west; hence, they always have a great sense of direction and strong special memories. The Chinese language, or Mandarin, includes much less syllables in numbers allowing the Chinese to remember numbers easier and even calculate faster. In essence, language structure plays a vital role in how we live our lives.

Reality is simply a perception that differs from one person to another, yet seems evidently real to each person. At the end of the day, reality is a result of how we are built and in turn, how we analyze the information we take in every day.