Moments That Matter: Salience and the Neuroscience of What Moves You

An exploration of the neuroscience of “salience,” showing readers how to use this brain network to create more meaningful experiences

Humans are receiving input all the time, both from the world around us and our own bodies. While reading this sentence, you’re primarily focused on the words on the page. But if someone were to call your name, your attention would immediately shift. How do our brains decide what to pay attention to, and what to ignore?

The secret is the little-explored quality of salience–our mind’s way of telling us what is most relevant in this very moment. Salience is why we care more about food when we’re hungry, or crave our beds when we’re tired. But it also works to assess more abstract concepts related to our values and identities. Salience governs how we recall the past and what we pay attention to in the present. It shapes what we find funny, what moves us to tears, and what we deem worthy of our time and effort. Without salience, our experience of the world would be entirely devoid of meaning, yet few of us are aware that this neural machinery even exists, let alone how it works.
In Salience, neuroscientist and opera singer Indre Viskontas tells the story of this highly influential network. Whether we are choosing how to spend our free time, tending our health, or finding purpose in our careers, understanding the salience network allows us to hone in on what’s important and build a life that feels significant. Salience unites the scientific heft of Lisa Feldman Barrett’s How Emotions Are Made with the tenderness and creative energy of Big Magic, weaving together the latest scientific research with Viskontas’s deep love of music to show readers how to wield salience to construct more meaningful, satisfying lives.