Here is a quote from an article about consciousness
"One of the processes important in perception is the comparing of current input with similar past experience.
When we see a friend, a memory image of his face is presented to our consciousness along with the
sensation of his actual present appearance.
This memory image (which can be called a schema) blends with the current sensation, so that the
perception is a combination of the two. The relative strengths of each source of information probably
vary from person to person."
It not scientific or proven true. It does however work as a model for a part of peoples perception that fits quite well to peoples behavior.
I think we put a little bit too much faith in the scientific process for dealing with cognitive processes (note: I have little background in cogsci or related fields, just books I've read). There's so much happening in our unconscious minds that is difficult or impossible to scientifically dissect. This applies to physical, quantitative methods (measuring the possibly quantum coherent electron transfer inside our brains, or actually getting a grip on the LFP of every neuron in a brain, etc.) as well as more qualitative approaches in psychology/cogsci (language limits this). Neuroscience is making leaps (I'm currently reading "The Neural Basis of Free Will" by Tse [0], it's tough as I've not take a neuro course but it's fascinating) but lacking a "reflective" ability outside of our experience will limit what we can truly know about our experience. It seems waxing philosophically is our only option, barring some kind of breakthrough.
