Our brain throws a lot of information away as it receives far more it can hold onto. It also has to make a trade off between speed and accuracy - a fast but inaccurate answer or a slow but more accurate one.
Most of the time, it opts for speed - interpreting events based on its rules of thumb, which might not always be logical. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for studying these rules of thumb and how they influence real-life behavior. Logical thinking, on the other hand, requires a lot of effort.
The problem of throwing away information, taking mental shortcuts, and inventing plausible stories is termed "change blindness". Our memory of the past is unreliable and our perception of the present is highly selective. Even when you imagine your future, your brain fills in many details, which may be unrealistic, and leaves out many others, which may be important.
Our brain selectively processes details that have historically been most relevant to survival - paying particular attention to events that are unexpected. It rarely tells us the truth, but most of the time it tells us what we need to know anyway!
P.S: The 10% Myth - You use your whole brain every day!
Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life By Sandra Aamodt, Sam Wang
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