We all believe that what we see is really there. And in a lot of cases that may be true. On the other hand our brain will fill in missing information from our experiences, beliefs, values, etc… This is for efficiency. If we were to absorb every single detail of what we see, we would probably go insane. Our brains can’t handle that.

People with autism don’t have that same type of filtering system as a normal person does. Depending of the severity of autism, the person will become flooded with information from all senses.

When you & I receive information into our eyes from light reflected off an object, the image is first projected to the retina upside down. Then it’s sent through the optic nerve & into the visual cortex, which is in the occipital area of the brain (rear). Other areas will be brought in to construct an image. There’s about 35 areas within your brain that helps in this process. The final image is not the first one that was projected onto your retina. What happened was your brain deleted some of it, added to it, & reconstructed a new image that became part of your memory. Even memories of an event will have gone through reconstructions throughout a person’s life based on their experiences, what they see from other things like movies, when their beliefs change, and so forth.

Another thing about seeing is what we don’t see. When we are intently focused on one thing, then we will miss other things that are obvious. Again, if those other things don’t serve a useful purpose for us, then our brains will delete it out. People who set goals & write them down tend to delete out things that are important to the goal. This creates efficiency in reaching the goal. More opportunities will be observed because of this focus.

So it’s not important to remember every detail of something. Your reality is the only thing that counts for you. True schizophreniacs (not paranoid) are happier than normal people, because they have their own created reality. What you see is what you believe you see, not what is really there.