"First published in the United States in 2018 by Yale University Press. First published in Great Britain in 2018 as The Mind is Flat: The Illusion of Mental Depth and the Improvised Mind by Penguin Books Ltd, London"--Title page verso

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-243) and index

Prologue: Literary Depth, Mental Shallows -- Part One, The Illusion of Mental Depth: The Power of Invention -- The Feeling of Reality -- Anatomy of a Hoax -- The Inconstant Imagination -- Inventing Feelings -- Manufacturing Choice -- Part Two, The Improvised Mind: The Cycle of Thought -- The Narrow Channel of Consciousness -- The Myth of Unconscious Thought -- The Boundary of Consciousness -- Precedents not Principles -- The Secret of Intelligence -- Epilogue: Reinventing Ourselves

"Psychologists and neuroscientists struggle with how best to interpret human motivation and decision making. The assumption is that below a mental "surface" of conscious awareness lies a deep and complex set of inner beliefs, values, and desires that govern our thoughts, ideas, and actions, and that to know this depth is to know ourselves. In this profoundly original book, behavioral scientist Nick Chater contends just the opposite: rather than being the plaything of unconscious currents, the brain generates behaviors in the moment based entirely on our past experiences. Engaging the reader with eye-opening experiments and visual examples, the author first demolishes our intuitive sense of how our mind works, then argues for a positive interpretation of the brain as a ceaseless and creative improviser"--Jacket