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The words input and output immediately brought to my mind the idea that the brain is a computer. I've been reading a book called "Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions" by Dr. Read Montague in which he argues that the brain is a very efficient computer. While a computer isn't worried about having a limited power supply, the brain has to be extremely efficient because it has limited resources and thus it must have the ability to focus on certain computations that are more important. How it judges importance is by having the biological motivations of reproduction and survival. Our brain makes valuation computations of different goal states based on our experiences and the rewards we obtain by doing certain actions (reinforcement learning). Reinforcement learning is based on prediction errors which occur when something happens beyond what we expected or below what we expected, after which the brain updates the values it has placed on certain states. How exactly the brain makes these computations is still a mystery. However, research has found some neural correlates. For example, according to Dr. Montague's research, dopamine is released in an increased amount when we get a greater reward than what we expected, it pauses when we receive a reward less than what we expected, and it stays the same if we get an expected reward.

Interestingly, Dr. Montague describes our brains as "computers that care."