You may not know it, but deep down you are a scientist. To be precise, your brain is a scientist—and a good one, too: the kind of scientist that makes clear hypotheses, gathers data from several sources, and then reaches a well-founded conclusion. Although we are not aware of the scientific experimentation occurring in our brain on a momentary basis, the scientific process is fundamental to how our brain works. This scientific process involves three key components. First: hypotheses. Our brain makes hypotheses, or predictions, all the time. The second component of good scientific work is gathering data—testing the hypothesis by comparing it to evidence. The neuroscientists gather data to test the theories about how the brain works from several sources—for example, behavior, invasive recordings of the activity of single cells in the brain, and noninvasive imaging of overall activity in large areas of the brain. Finally, after making precise, well-founded predictions and gathering data from all available sources, a scientist must interpret the empirical observations. It is important to realize that the perceived reality is subjective—it is interpreted—rather than an objective image of the world out there. And in some cases this interpretation can break down. For instance, in schizophrenia, meaningless events and distractors can take on outsized meaning in subjective interpretation, leading to hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. Our memories are similarly a reflection of our own interpretations rather than a true record of events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)