A clear example is the way your cortex reads this page. It does not just take in details passively. It generates expectations about the chunk of detail that will come next, based on past experience. Dopamine is released when you see a chunk that matches your expectations. You extract meaning and move on to generate an expectation about the next chunk. If a chunk fails to match your expectations, cortisol is released, which prompts you to take a closer look before you create meaning and move on. You’re not conscious of generating expectations before you read a word, but you’d never be able to
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