Blue eyes Robert :
The statement is mostly accurate, though it’s simplified.
The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a network of neurons in the brainstem that helps regulate arousal, alertness, and attention. One of its roles is acting as a filter, helping your brain prioritize what information reaches your conscious awareness because it’s impossible to consciously process everything your senses detect.
A more accurate version would be:
Your brain has an attention filter.
It’s called the Reticular Activating System (RAS).
Every second, your senses take in an enormous amount of information.
Your RAS helps determine what reaches your conscious attention based on what’s relevant to your goals, expectations, emotions, and immediate needs.
When you consistently focus on something, whether it’s learning a new skill, buying a certain car, or worrying about a problem, you become more likely to notice related information in your environment.
The RAS doesn’t create opportunities or change reality. It changes what you notice.
A classic example is buying a blue Honda Civic and suddenly noticing blue Honda Civics everywhere. They were always there, you’ve simply trained your brain to pay attention to them.
This concept is well-supported in cognitive neuroscience, but it’s often exaggerated online into claims that the RAS “manifests” reality. The evidence supports that it filters attention, not that it attracts events or changes the external world.
2026-08-03 15:53:36