Expectation and reality: how the brain exists between the two

On August 3, Saturday at 1:00PM, science journalist and populariser of science Asya Kazantseva will give a lecture on “Expectation and reality: how the brain exists between the two” in Almaty.

We constantly create models of the environment in our heads and use them to predict the future. This manifests itself on many different levels, from simple sensory perception to abstract worldview concepts, but is especially noticeable when it comes to emotions. We don't really care how the world actually works; we care about how much it exceeds or falls short of our expectations. All of our most vivid impressions - both positive and negative - arise precisely at the gap between what is observed and what is predicted, but at the same time the brain tries its best to fill this gap with illusions, or to ignore it altogether.

At the lecture we will talk about neurobiological experiments that illustrate these loud claims, and about practical conclusions that follow from this specificity of our brain's work. How expectations influence the perception of pain; how we fall into the trap of hedonic adaptation; in what areas of human activity self-fulfilling predictions work and how to turn them to our advantage.

After the lecture, the audience will be able to ask their questions.

Asya Kazantseva is a science journalist, winner of the “Illuminator” award, author of best-selling books about the human brain and behavior “Who would have thought it!”, “Someone is wrong on the Internet”, “The Brain is Material”, “Where Children Come From”, and an itinerant lecturer. She was editor of the popular science program “Progress” on Channel 5, “Programs for the Future” on Science 2.0, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Health”. She has written popular science articles and columns for various media outlets (Republic, Vokrug Sveta, Science in Focus, Troitsky Variant, BBC, N+1, etc.). In 2024 she left Russia and now lives in Georgia.

The lecture will be held in Russian and will take place in the conference hall "ALTYN YEMEL" in the hotel "Kazakhstan" at 52/2 Dostyk Ave.

18+ THIS MATERIAL RELATES TO THE ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN AGENT ANASTASIA ANDREEVNA KAZANTSEVA