Be Wary: Your Brain Doesn’t Know The Difference Between Reality and Imagination

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Photograph by Faik Akmd on Pexels

The more research I do on psychology and the brain, the more I realise the brain is both fascinatingly complex and deceivingly simple. Today I wanted to touch on that.

Our brains can’t tell the difference between reality and our thoughts.

Practically, this only makes sense. For example, It doesn’t matter if an anxiety sufferer is experiencing an anxious situation or imagining it, they will experience a stress response either way. Stress hormones like cortisol and fight/flight hormones like adrenaline are released regardless of if they are in a stressful situation or not. To put it simply, their brains can’t tell the difference between what is reality and what is imagined.

Scientific studies back this up. One study in particular, took two groups of individuals and asked one to play a specific set of keys on the piano and the other to imagine playing a set of keys. Under both circumstances, whilst being scanned, brain activity significantly increased in brain regions corresponding to motor movement of the hand. This is significant as our brains clearly cannot differentiate between what is reality and what is not. Just like our anxiety example.

What we imagine has a tremendous impact on our mind and body. Being unaware of destructive…

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Joe Gibson, Above The Middle
Change Your Mind Change Your Life

Your path to authentic love and secure relationships starts here. Above The Middle, a blog by me, Joe Gibson.