How Do Our Brains Shape Reality?




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ClassGraphic Our minds don't simply record the world—they actively construct it, piecing together fragments of sensation and memory into coherent experience. But what happens when these neural constructions falter or deceive us? Through two groundbreaking books, we will explore how the brain creates our sense of reality, consciousness, and self. In The Illusionist Brain: The Neuroscience of Magic (Princeton, 2023), neuroscientists Jordi Camí and Luis Martínez reveal how magicians exploit or “hack” the same mental shortcuts our brains use every moment—showing us that perception is creative inference, not passive reception. Nobel laureate Eric Kandel's The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves (Robinson, 2020) further illuminates how the brain builds experience, emotion, and identity by examining neurological and psychiatric disorders. Together, we will grapple with profound questions: Is free will an illusion? How do memory, attention, and expectation shape what we perceive? What do disorders reveal about typical brain function? Through close reading and discussion, we will investigate perception, trauma, neurodiversity, and the biological foundations of mind. No science background required. Join us to probe the mysteries, limits, and surprises of the mind.
 

Class Details

14 Session(s)
Weekly - Thu

Location
TBD

Instructor
Multiple

Tuition: 

$0.00

Email olli@northwestern.edu for more information. Send to Friend »

Schedule Information

Date(s) Class Days Times Location Instructor(s)
3/5/2026 - 6/4/2026 Weekly - Thu 01:15 PM - 03:15 PM TBD Robert Jenkins  ; Bill King 

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