From perception to memory, neuroscientist Susana Martinez-Conde explains how the brain constrcts reality and how we are mistaken about what we take for granted.
Neuroscientists believe that our minds and conciousness are no more than matter and mechanism. But if they are right, is all meaning, purpose and feeling illusory? Must we accept that we are just machines? Or do the secrets of experience lie beyond neuroscience's grasp, requiring an alternative account of who we are?
Susana Martinez-Conde is a neuroscientist and science writer. She is a professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology & pharmacology at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, where she directs the Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience.