Our brain is an incredibly complex and at the same time remarkably strange organ. Every day, it processes millions of pieces of information, makes decisions, protects us from danger, and most of the time we are not even aware of it. Sometimes, the mechanisms behind our behavior truly surprise us.
Let’s take a look at five strange, yet scientifically proven, things our brain does.
5. Your Brain Trusts Your Eyes More Than Your Hands
Imagine a simple example: you are eating a sandwich. You reach out, pick it up, and bring it to your mouth without dropping or spilling anything. It seems completely ordinary. But in reality, this process requires high coordination, visual analysis, and motor control.
The brain manages most of these movements automatically. You don’t consciously think, “Let me move my hand slightly to the right,” or “I shouldn’t squeeze too hard.” The brain analyzes visual information and guides your hand accordingly.
In experiments, participants were asked to hold weighted rods in both hands and determine which side was heavier. With their eyes closed, they identified the heavier side correctly. However, when the image was manipulated using mirrors—so that their eyes saw something different from what their hands felt—participants gave incorrect answers.
Even though they physically felt the rods, the brain prioritized visual information. Even after the mirror trick was explained, the brain continued to rely on what it saw.
This shows that our brain often believes what we see more than what we physically sense.
4. Your Brain Has a Directional Bias (And It Affects Your Behavior)
The human brain has two hemispheres, and certain functions are more active on one side. Interestingly, most people show a preference toward the right side.
Most babies tend to turn their heads to the right after birth. This directional bias continues to appear in various behaviors later in life.
Research shows that more than two-thirds of people tilt their heads to the right when kissing. This pattern appears both in Western countries and in different cultures. Right-handed individuals display this tendency more often, while left-handed individuals do so less frequently.
Although this bias does not drastically change our daily lives, it reveals how structured the brain is and how automatic many of our behaviors are.
3. People Associate Sounds and Shapes in Similar Ways
If you are asked to match a sharp, spiky shape and a round shape with the names “Kiki” and “Buba,” you will most likely assign “Kiki” to the sharp shape and “Buba” to the round one.
This phenomenon appears in approximately 95% of people across different languages.
Similar patterns are observed between sounds and colors. In studies, participants were asked to associate vowel sounds with colors. People diagnosed with synesthesia experienced stronger associations, but even those without synesthesia showed similar patterns.
For example:
High-pitched sounds are often linked with lighter and brighter colors.
Low-pitched sounds are associated with darker and heavier tones.
This means that the brain connects sounds, shapes, and concepts according to internal rules. These connections are formed partly by biology and partly by cultural influences.
2. Your Brain Has a Hidden Filtering System
Every second, the brain receives an enormous amount of information. However, we do not consciously perceive all of it. The reason is the brain’s filtering system—our attention mechanism.
In the famous “invisible gorilla” experiment, participants were asked to count basketball passes. During the video, a person in a gorilla costume walked through the scene. Most participants did not notice the gorilla.
The brain focused on the assigned task and filtered out what it considered “irrelevant” information.
However, strong stimuli—such as danger or sexual signals—capture attention more quickly. This is an evolutionary mechanism: noticing threats in time is vital for survival.
Other studies show that motivation also influences attention. When people are told they will receive a reward for noticing certain objects, the brain becomes more likely to detect them.
In other words, the brain is not objective. It filters reality based on priorities.
1. Your Brain Alters Memories and Favors Positivity
Research shows that most people recall positive memories more easily than negative ones. In individuals with mild depression, the balance is more equal. In severe depression, negative memories become dominant.
This suggests that a healthy brain has a certain “positivity bias.”
This mechanism protects us. If life were experienced only through negative memories, motivation and resilience would decline. The brain softens difficulties, erases painful details, and preserves a sense of hope for the future.
But this raises a question:
Are we truly happy, or is our brain programmed to make us feel that way?
Perhaps it is both.
Conclusion
The brain is not just an organ that thinks. It interprets reality, reshapes it, filters it, and sometimes even deceives us. It makes countless automatic decisions without our awareness.
Yet one truth remains:
Your brain is incredibly powerful.
And understanding how it works is one of the greatest steps toward understanding yourself.