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Interlude LVII: Awe and the Collapse of the Model - Default Mode Network, Predictive Processing, and GERO
What happens when reality exceeds the brain’s ability to predict it?
In this interlude of The Observable Unknown, Dr. Juan Carlos Rey examines the neuroscience of awe and the moment when perception no longer resolves cleanly. This episode focuses on how awe states disrupt predictive processing, weaken the brain’s internal model of reality, and temporarily loosen the structure that maintains identity and continuity.
Drawing on the research of Dacher Keltner at the University of California, Berkeley, this episode defines awe as a state triggered by perceived vastness and the need for cognitive…
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