Caption: Our ability to highlight surprises stems from a specific interplay of brain waves that suppress processing of predicted stimuli, such as the things we always see around the office, to pave the way for heightened processing of what's new, like a gift left on the desk one morning. Previous image Next image If you open your office door one morning and there is a new package waiting on your desk, that’s what you will notice most in the otherwise unchanged room. A recent study by MIT and Boston University neuroscientists finds that the dynamic interplay of different brain wave frequencies, rather than dedicated circuitry, appears to govern the brain’s knack for highlighting what’s surprising and downplaying what’s predictable.