Schizophrenia: a question of perception? The brain fills in the information transmitted by the sensory environment that is not there or missing. For example, the blind spot in our eyes has no light sensory receptors, so images focused on that spot are not transmitted to the brain. In fact, there should be a hole in our visual perception of images projected into our blind spot. This does not happen because our brain fills the spaces with continuous patterns that fit the image of our vision. Furthermore, what we see and what is interpreted by what is seen spreads across a broad spectrum from one individual to another. This indicates that there is no real format by which to generalize different individual perceptions. Every input from the sensory environment is formatted and placed into context by our brain. Our brain organizes every situation into a format that makes sense to our patterns. So what happens when the train of thought is fragmented and the brain is unable to organize these fragments into an understandable pattern? Imagine if sometimes your experiences became a slideshow, fragments of experiences that don't come together. This is, in fact, how people with schizophrenia describe their experiences (1). Have you ever had an experience or vision that just doesn't make sense? You may not understand the cause and outcome of a certain experience or situation, but every memory is placed in context. Our brain makes sure of this. So, when seemingly unrelated bits of information are sent to the brain, it tries to combine them together in the most logical way. Is it possible that the reason schizophrenics have an impaired sense of reality is because their brain's logic is distorted? Schizophrenia is one of the most serious psychopathologies present today. Its causes are still vague and the symptoms vary across a wide spectrum. However, two generalized groups of symptoms have been identified for schizophrenics: positive symptoms and negative symptoms. Negative symptoms include lack of activity, anhedonia, and loss of interest. Positive symptoms include disorganized speech, hallucinations, and delusional experiences (1). Individuals with schizophrenia commonly experience a disturbance in their perception. Their surroundings are unreal and their external sensory environment seems different from what they were previously familiar with. In fact, their perceptions are derailed; misinterpreting situations and the chronology of events. I am unable to distinguish between reality and imagination.