Understanding how our brains work through 'The Neuroscience of You'

According to Dr. Chantel Prat, "The point of the brain is to take in as much information in the world around the being that it's driving, and use this information to guide that being through life in a way that maximizes its success."

But how individual brains work comes down to a fascinating combination of factors, with each person's experiences changing how they engage with the world.

Brains are unpredictable.

For example, I can look at a picture of a dress going viral on the internet, and I know for sure that it is blue and black. You may see an obviously gold and white dress, and we get to argue about it on social media for a week.

But ultimately what we perceive all comes down to the ways those complex organs in our skulls process information.

Chantel Prat is a professor at the University of Washington with appointments in the departments of psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics.

She's also the author of the new book, "The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain is Different and How to Understand Yours," and she spoke with Soundside about how our brains work.