What is a Worldview and How It Defines Your Decisions, Results, and Life Purpose – The Ultimate Guide!

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll discover what a worldview is, how it functions as your mind’s “operating system,” and why understanding it is essential to make wiser decisions, achieve results aligned with your values, and live with clarity of purpose.

You will learn:

• The concept of worldview and its philosophical origins
• How your worldview influences decisions, self-esteem, and performance
• The main types of worldviews and their practical implications
• The Christian perspective on worldview and its transformative impact
• How to identify and, if necessary, transform your own worldview

Prepare yourself for a journey that can profoundly change how you see yourself, your choices, and your place in the world.

What is a worldview? Definition and origin of the concept

Definition of worldview

A worldview is the integrated set of beliefs, values, and assumptions through which you interpret all of reality. It’s the invisible “lens” that filters how you see God, human beings, right and wrong, the meaning of existence, and your role in the world.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a worldview is “the subjective way of seeing and understanding the world, especially human relationships and the roles of individuals and their purpose in society, as well as answers to basic philosophical questions, such as the purpose of human existence, the existence of life after death, etc.”

Philosopher and theologian Ronald Nash offers a more precise definition: “A worldview is a conceptual scheme by which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality.”¹ In other words, it’s the mental structure that organizes all your knowledge and experience.

Albert Wolters, a Reformed theologian, uses a powerful metaphor: a worldview “acts as a compass or a map,” serving as a guide or reference framework that helps us interpret the world, discern right from wrong, and make important decisions.² Just as a compass guides the navigator, your worldview guides your daily choices.

It’s important to distinguish worldview from mere opinions. Opinions are superficial and easily changeable (“I prefer coffee to tea”). Worldview operates at a deeper level – these are fundamental convictions you’ve probably never questioned but that shape all your other beliefs and behaviors.

The origin of the term Weltanschauung

The word “worldview” is a translation of the German Weltanschauung, composed of “Welt” (world) and “Anschauung” (view, conception, or perception). The term gained strength in 19th-century German philosophy, especially through thinkers like Immanuel Kant, who used it to describe sensory perception of the world.

Later, the concept was expanded by philosophers like Wilhelm Dilthey, who understood Weltanschauung as a comprehensive understanding of life that goes beyond scientific knowledge, including values, feelings, and views about the purpose of existence.

The term migrated to other languages and disciplines – philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology – becoming essential for understanding how individuals and cultures interpret reality. Contemporary research in psychology demonstrates that worldviews are organized systems of beliefs that influence everything from perception to social behavior, acting as cognitive filters through which we process all information.³

Why your worldview matters

You may not be aware of it, but your worldview is operating right now as you read this article. It determines:

Your moral decisions: What you consider right or wrong doesn’t come only from logical reasoning but from deep assumptions about the nature of morality. Someone with a naturalistic worldview may base ethics on evolution and survival; someone with a theistic worldview may ground it in a transcendent standard.

Your self-image and self-esteem: How you see yourself depends on beliefs about human nature. If you believe you’re a cosmic accident with no intrinsic purpose, your self-esteem will be based on achievements and external approval. If you believe you were created in God’s image with inherent value, your identity has a deeper anchor.

Your priorities and goals: What you consider “success” is shaped by your worldview. For some, it’s accumulation of wealth and power; for others, it’s meaningful relationships and contribution to the common good. These differences aren’t just preferences – they’re expressions of distinct worldviews.

Your response to suffering: How you deal with pain, loss, and injustice reveals your worldview. Some worldviews see suffering as absurd and meaningless; others view it as part of a larger narrative of redemption and purpose.

Understanding your worldview is one of the most important acts of self-knowledge. It’s stepping off “mental autopilot” and examining the assumptions that govern your life.

How worldviews are formed

No one is born with a ready-made worldview. It develops over time, usually unconsciously, through multiple influences:

Family context

Your first ideas about God, right and wrong, life’s purpose, and human nature come from your parents or caregivers. You absorb their worldview before you even develop language to articulate it. A child raised in a home where God is central will develop different assumptions than a child in a secular home.

Culture and society

The culture you’re immersed in constantly communicates messages about what’s valuable, normal, and desirable. Movies, music, formal education, social media – all transmit worldviews. In the contemporary West, for example, values like individual autonomy and self-actualization are widely assumed, reflecting specific worldviews.

Formative experiences

Significant events – traumas, achievements, losses, transformative encounters – can solidify or challenge your worldview. Someone who experienced profound injustice may develop a cynical view of human nature; someone who experienced sacrificial love may develop a more hopeful view.

Education and intellectual exposure

What you study and read shapes your worldview. Universities, especially, don’t just transmit information but also underlying worldviews about knowledge, truth, and values. An evolutionary biology course and a systematic theology course will present not just different content but different worldviews.

Faith and spiritual experience

For many, the spiritual dimension is the core of worldview. Religious or faith conversion, for example, often represents a radical worldview shift – what in Christianity is called metanoia (renewal of mind).

The crucial point is this: your worldview wasn’t chosen entirely consciously. You “inherited” it and absorbed it. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with it. As we’ll see, it’s possible to examine, question, and transform your worldview – but it requires intentional work of self-reflection and openness to change.

The fundamental components of a worldview

The four essential dimensions

Every worldview, regardless of its specific content, is composed of four interconnected elements:

1. Beliefs (Cognitive Convictions)

These are the basic assertions about reality that you consider true. Examples:

• “God exists” or “God doesn’t exist”
• “Humans have free will” or “Everything is determined”
• “Objective truth exists” or “Truth is relative”
• “Life has transcendent purpose” or “Life has no inherent meaning”

These beliefs function as your worldview’s “hardware” – the infrastructure upon which everything else is built.

2. Values (Normative Priorities)

Values are the principles that guide what you consider good, desirable, or priority. They answer “how should we live?” and “what matters most?” Examples:

• Justice, compassion, individual freedom, community, order, progress
• Different worldviews order these values in distinct ways

For example, an individualistic worldview will prioritize personal freedom above collective good; a communitarian worldview will do the opposite. These aren’t arbitrary choices – they’re expressions of deeper beliefs about human nature and society’s purpose.

3. Narratives (Structuring Stories)

People organize reality through stories. Your worldview includes a “grand narrative” that answers:

• Where did we come from? (Origins)
• What went wrong? (Human problem)
• What’s the solution? (Redemption or progress)
• Where are we going? (Final destination)

For example:

The Marxist narrative is: “There was a time of primitive equality → Private property created class oppression → Proletarian revolution will bring classless society.”

The Christian faith narrative is: “God created everything good → Sin corrupted creation → Christ redeems through the cross → God will restore all things.”

4. Presuppositions (Unquestioned Axioms)

These are foundations you assume as true without questioning. Examples:

• “My senses give me reliable information about reality”
• “Logical reasoning is valid”
• “Other people have minds like mine”

Presuppositions are like the air you breathe – invisible but absolutely essential. You notice them only when they’re challenged.

These four components work together like puzzle pieces, creating a coherent (or sometimes contradictory) structure through which you interpret all experience. Research in psychology shows that these dimensions of worldview influence each other mutually, forming relatively stable belief systems that guide behavior and moral judgment.⁴

Main types of worldviews

There are various ways to categorize worldviews. Here we present four of the most influential in history and contemporary culture. It’s important to note that these are “ideal types” – in reality, people often combine elements from different views.

Comparative table: worldviews in contrast

Theistic worldview

Theism affirms that there exists a personal, transcendent God who created the universe with purpose and continues involved with his creation. It differs from polytheism (many gods) and pantheism (God is the universe).

Main characteristics:

• God is personal (has consciousness, will, capacity for relationship)
• Creation ex nihilo (creation from nothing) – the universe isn’t eternal or necessary
• Objective morality – right and wrong are real, not human conventions
• Transcendent purpose – life has meaning beyond physical existence

Practical implications: If you adopt a theistic worldview, it affects how you live. Your decisions aren’t just pragmatic but moral – you respond to a standard beyond yourself. Your dignity doesn’t depend on success or approval but on being created in the Creator’s image. Suffering isn’t necessarily absurd because it may be part of a larger plan you don’t fully comprehend.

Christian theism (which we’ll explore in depth ahead) is the most widespread form of this worldview in the West, but Judaism and Islam are also theistic, each with specific nuances.

Naturalistic worldview

Naturalism (or materialism) holds that everything that exists is physical and natural. There’s no God, spirit, soul, or supernatural reality – only matter, energy, and the laws that govern them.

Main characteristics:

• The universe is self-sufficient, needing no creator
• Human being is an evolved primate, product of blind natural processes
• Morality is human construction based on evolution and social convention
• There’s no life after death; consciousness is a product of material brain

Practical implications: Under naturalism, life’s meaning must be created or discovered within the limits of material existence. Many naturalists embrace secular humanism – values like compassion, justice, and scientific progress, even without transcendent foundation. Others adopt a more nihilistic stance, recognizing that in a purposeless universe, values are ultimately arbitrary.

Naturalism dominates much of contemporary academia and is implicit in much popular scientific discourse, although many scientists aren’t philosophical naturalists.

Pantheistic worldview

Pantheism identifies God with the universe – everything is divine, and the divine is everything. It’s common in Eastern religions like Hinduism and certain forms of Buddhism, and has resurged in the West through the New Age movement.

Main characteristics:

• God/Ultimate Reality is an impersonal force immanent in everything
• The individual self is illusory; ultimate reality is indivisible unity
• The human “problem” is spiritual ignorance (avidya) and attachment
• Salvation/liberation comes through enlightenment – perceiving union with the divine

Practical implications: Pantheism encourages detachment from the material world (seen as illusory), meditative practices to transcend ego, and ethics based on non-violence (ahimsa) and universal compassion. Rigid moral distinctions often dissolve – good and evil may be seen as complementary aspects of the same reality.

In the contemporary West, many people adopt a kind of “pantheism lite” – a vague spirituality that sees God as “universal energy” or “cosmic consciousness,” without the rigorous commitments of classical Eastern traditions.

Existentialist worldview

Existentialism, developed by thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus (although their positions diverge), emphasizes radical human freedom and the responsibility to create meaning in a universe with no intrinsic purpose.

Main characteristics:

• “Existence precedes essence” – there’s no fixed human nature or predetermined purpose
• Radical freedom – you’re condemned to choose and are totally responsible
• Authenticity vs. bad faith – living honestly or self-deception
• Existential angst – confronting the absurdity of existence

Practical implications: Existentialism rejects ready-made ethical systems or externally imposed meanings. You must create your own values through courageous and authentic choices – meaning no external authority constrains you, or terrific (no external authority guides you).

Many find in existentialism an alternative to complete nihilism – even without cosmic meaning, you can forge personal significance and create commitment to chosen values.

Worldview vs. ideology: what’s the difference?

The terms “worldview” and “ideology” are often used interchangeably, but there are important distinctions:

Worldview

Is more comprehensive and profound. It encompasses your entire way of perceiving reality – metaphysics (what exists?), epistemology (how do we know?), ethics (what is right?), anthropology (what is human being?). It’s pre-political and pre-ideological.

Ideology

Is a system of ideas focused more specifically on political and social organization. It’s an application of worldview to the political realm. Examples: socialism, liberalism, conservatism, anarchism.

For example, two people can share a Christian theistic worldview but diverge ideologically – one may be a democratic socialist and another a libertarian conservative. Both are trying to apply Christian principles to social order but arrive at different conclusions about which system best reflects those principles.

On the other hand, apparently opposed ideologies can share worldview assumptions. Both libertarian capitalism and Marxist socialism, for example, often assume a naturalistic-materialistic worldview – they disagree on economics but agree there’s no transcendent dimension to reality.

Understanding this distinction is crucial. Heated political conflicts are often, at bottom, worldview conflicts. When you debate politics with someone and feel you’re speaking completely different languages, you probably are – your underlying worldviews structure the very meaning of terms like “justice,” “freedom,” and “common good”.

How worldview impacts different areas of life

Your worldview isn’t abstract theory – it has concrete and measurable impacts on every dimension of your existence.

Decisions and leadership

Leaders make decisions based on their worldview, often without realizing it.

Leaders with Christian worldviews, for example, often create cultures of servant leadership – prioritizing team welfare over personal aggrandizement. This flows from a worldview where the greatest is who serves, following Christ’s example.

Results and performance

Your worldview directly influences your capacity to achieve results. How? Through mindset – the mental posture you adopt when facing challenges.

Carol Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist, demonstrated that there are two basic types of mindset⁵

• Fixed mindset: “My capabilities are immutable. Either I’m good at this or I’m not.”
• Growth mindset: “My capabilities can develop with effort and learning.”

But behind these mindsets are worldviews. Someone with a deterministic worldview (everything is fixed by genetics or destiny) will have more difficulty cultivating a growth mindset. Someone with a worldview that believes in freedom, purpose, and possibility of change (like the Christian one) has a more solid foundation for resilience.

Neuroscience confirms: profound changes in beliefs and perspectives can literally alter the brain’s physical structure through neuroplasticity – the brain’s capacity to reorganize its neural connections in response to experiences and learning.⁶

📖 Want to understand the science? Read: The Neuroscience of Worldview: How Your Brain Processes Beliefs

Self-esteem and identity

How you answer the question “who am I?” depends profoundly on your worldview.

Naturalistic worldview:
If you believe you’re a cosmic accident – an evolved primate with no transcendent purpose – your self-esteem will necessarily be based on external factors: appearance, achievements, status, social approval. When these factors fail (and they eventually do), your identity collapses.

Christian worldview:
If you believe you were created in God’s image, with intrinsic value and eternal purpose, your self-esteem has a deeper and more stable anchor. Failures don’t define you because your identity doesn’t depend on performance but on who the Creator says you are.

Research from the University of California demonstrates empirically that a person’s worldview directly moderates the impact of negative experiences on self-esteem.⁷ People with worldviews that offer stable identity (like the Christian one) demonstrate greater psychological resilience when facing adversities.

Self-esteem functions as a “sociometer” that tracks the degree to which a person lives according to their worldview’s ideals.⁸ If your worldview values compassion and you act with cruelty, your self-esteem drops. If your worldview values courage and you face a fear, your self-esteem rises.

📖 Explore more deeply: How Your Worldview Affects Your Self-Esteem: Complete Guide for Leaders

Purpose and fulfillment

Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and founder of logotherapy, observed that human beings can endure almost any suffering as long as they find meaning in it.⁹ But where does this meaning come from? From worldview.

Existentialist worldview

You must create your own purpose. This is liberating for some but terrifying and lonely for others. How do you know if the purpose you chose is “good”? There’s no objective standard.

Christian worldview

Purpose isn’t invented but discovered. You were created with a specific telos (purpose): to know God, glorify him, and participate in his redemptive work in the world. This doesn’t eliminate freedom – you choose how to fulfill this purpose – but it provides direction.

Success vs fulfillment

There’s a crucial difference between success and fulfillment:

• Success is achieving goals you (or society) established.
• Fulfillment is living aligned with what you were created to be.

You can have tremendous success (wealth, fame, power) and profound emptiness (absence of fulfillment). Or have a modest life in worldly terms but deep peace and satisfaction. The difference lies in the worldview that defines what truly matters.

The Christian worldview, in particular, offers something unique: the capacity to find purpose even in suffering. If God is redeeming all things and you participate in that redemption, even your pains can have transformative meaning – for you and for others.

Worldview, metanoia, and mindset: the transformation journey

Three interlinked concepts explain how change happens most profoundly: worldview, metanoia, and mindset.

What is metanoia?

Metanoia (μετάνοια) is a Greek term from the New Testament that literally means “change of mind” or “transformation of consciousness.” But it’s not a superficial change of opinion – it’s profound conversion of the entire way of thinking, feeling, and seeing reality.

In the Christian context, metanoia is genuine repentance that leads to renewal of mind: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).

Metanoia involves

1. Recognition: “My current way of seeing and living is wrong or incomplete.”
2. Renunciation: Abandonment of old mental and behavioral patterns.
3. Renewal: Adoption of new worldview, new values, new identity.
4. Reorientation: All life begins to flow from this new reality.

This is what happens in genuine Christian conversion – it’s not just “adding Jesus” to existing life but allowing Christ to transform consciousness’s very structure.

Connection between worldview, metanoia, and mindset

Worldview is the foundation – your reality map.
Metanoia is the transformation process – change of that map.
Mindset is the practical expression – your daily attitudes and thought patterns.

Practical example

John was raised with an implicit worldview that human value comes from achievements. His mindset was fixed and competitive – saw others as threats, never asked for help (sign of weakness), lived anxious about failures.

At 35, he went through a professional crisis that led him to question everything. Through deep reflection and encounter with Christian community, he experienced metanoia – began to see himself as loved by God independent of performance.

This new worldview (identity based on grace, not works) transformed his mindset. He developed a growth mindset – began to see failures as learning opportunities, collaborate instead of compete, seek help without shame. Professional and relational results improved substantially – not through techniques but through transformation of foundations.

Neurological basis of transformation

Research in neuroplasticity reveals that the brain possesses remarkable capacity to reorganize its neural connections in response to experiences, learning, and deep reflection.¹⁰

When you transform your worldview through metanoia

• Neuroplasticity creates new neural networks corresponding to new thought patterns
• Dopaminergic system reinforces behaviors aligned with new values¹¹
• Amygdala (emotional processing) begins to respond differently to stimuli based on new interpretations¹²
• Prefrontal cortex (decision-making) reorganizes priorities according to new value hierarchy

This explains why genuine metanoia is so powerful – you’re not just “trying to think differently” but literally rebuilding brain architecture. And this takes time, effort, and constant practice – reason why spiritual disciplines (prayer, biblical meditation, community) are essential. They’re exercises of spiritual neuroplasticity.

📖 Fascinated by the science? Dive into: The Neuroscience of Worldview: How Beliefs Transform the Brain

Practical example: transformation story

Anna grew up in a family where love was conditional. Only received affection when performing well. This shaped her worldview: “I’m worth what I produce. I need to be perfect to be loved.”

Result: chronic anxiety, paralyzing perfectionism, inability to accept failures, superficial relationships (fear of vulnerability).

At 28, in burnout crisis, sought help. Through therapy and spiritual direction, began metanoia journey:

1. Recognized her worldview was toxic and false
2. Renounced the belief she needed to “earn” love
3. Embraced new truth: “I am loved by God unconditionally. My value doesn’t depend on performance.”
4. Reoriented her life – learned to say no, accept imperfection, seek authentic relationships

Two years later, Anna is a different person – not because she “tried to think positive” but because she experienced worldview transformation, which neurologically reorganized her way of processing reality.

How to identify your own worldview

Many people live decades without consciously examining their fundamental beliefs. But self-knowledge is the first step to intentional transformation.

12 essential questions

Answer these questions honestly, without censorship:

1. What is the meaning of life? Why does anything exist instead of nothing? Does life have purpose or is it an accident?
2. Does absolute truth exist? Or is all truth relative to culture and individual preference?
3. Where did we come from? Were we created, did we evolve blindly, or have we always existed in some form?
4. What defines right and wrong? Is morality objective (external to us) or subjective (we create it)?
5. What is the role of faith or spirituality? Does God exist? Is it relevant to practical life? How to know him?
6. Is the human being fundamentally good or bad? Are we intrinsically altruistic or selfish? Can we change?
7. What is the source of moral authority? Who or what determines how we should live? Reason? Feelings? Scriptures? Social consensus?
8. Does life have transcendent purpose? Is there something beyond this physical existence? Life after death? Judgment?
9. How do you explain suffering? Why is there pain, disease, injustice? Does this make sense or is it absurd?
10. What is your responsibility toward others? Should you prioritize your own welfare or others’? Why?
11. What happens after death? Annihilation? Reincarnation? Heaven/hell? Resurrection?
12. How do you define success and fulfillment? What makes a life “well-lived”? What do you want them to say at your funeral?

Practical mapping exercise

Get pen and paper (seriously – physical writing activates different brain regions than just thinking):

Step 1: Write your answers to the 12 questions above, unfiltered.

Step 2: Reread your answers and ask: “Where did these ideas come from? Family? Culture? Experience? Own reflection?”

Step 3: Identify inconsistencies. For example: You said truth is relative (question 2) but then said racism is objectively wrong (question 4)? This is incoherent – either there’s objective truth or there isn’t. Inconsistencies reveal unexamined worldview.

Step 4: Ask: “If I really believed this, how would I live?” Often we discover we profess beliefs we don’t live or live beliefs we don’t profess. This gap is revealing.

Step 5: Consider: “Is this worldview leading me to the life I desire? Does it make me more loving, wise, free, fulfilled? Or does it imprison me in destructive patterns?”

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For deep reflection

FAQ – Frequently asked questions about worldview

Conclusion: living with clarity of worldview

We’ve reached the end of this discovery journey, but in reality, you’re just beginning. Understanding what a worldview is and how it functions is like waking from a dream – suddenly you see patterns and connections that were always there but were invisible.

Recapping essential truths about worldview

Your worldview is your mind’s “operating system” – the invisible structure that filters all experience and guides all decisions. You don’t choose to have a worldview (that’s inevitable), but you can choose to examine it, refine it, or transform it.

All areas of your life are shaped by your worldview – from leadership decisions to self-esteem, from how you handle suffering to how you define success. There’s no “neutral” domain – your worldview is constantly operating.

The Christian worldview offers a unique and robust vision of reality – through the Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consummation framework, it explains human complexity (capacity for greatness and evil), offers real hope of redemption, and grounds dignity and purpose in transcendent realities.

Transformation is possible through metanoia – profound renewal of mind that reorganizes both neural circuits and spiritual orientation. It’s not superficial change of habits but conversion of being’s core.

Clarity of worldview leads to integrated and intentional life – when you know what you believe and why you believe it, your decisions flow with more coherence, your identity stabilizes, and you live with defined purpose instead of being at the mercy of regional culture.

The question now isn’t “should I have a worldview?” (you already have one), but rather:

Are you aware of yours? Is it coherent? Is it producing an extraordinary life for you, or imprisonment? And if you’re not satisfied, are you willing to allow God to transform it?

Living with clarity of worldview is one of the most liberating and transformative acts you can perform. It’s stepping off “autopilot” and taking conscious responsibility for the beliefs and paradigms that govern your life.

May your discovery and transformation journey be blessed, and may the truth found be that which liberates, heals, and gives abundant life.

Next step: deepen your journey

You’ve discovered what worldview is and its profound impact on decisions, results, and purpose. But this is just the beginning.

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© 2025 Sandro Jales | Leadership and Personal Transformation Coach

Scientific and theoretical references

1. Nash, R. H. (1992). Worldviews in Conflict: Choosing Christianity in a World of Ideas. ↩︎
2. Wolters, A. M. (2005). Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview (2nd ed.). ↩︎
3. Koltko-Rivera, M. E. (2004). The psychology of worldviews. Review of General Psychology, 8(1), 3-58. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.8.1.3 ↩︎
4. Mifsud, R., & Sammut, G. (2023). Worldviews and the role of social values that underlie them. PLOS ONE, 18(7), e0288451. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288451 ↩︎
5. Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. ↩︎
6. Dweck, C. S., & Yeager, D. S. (2019). Mindsets: A view from two eras. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(3), 481-496. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691618804166  ↩︎
7. Major, B., Kaiser, C. R., O’Brien, L. T., & McCoy, S. K. (2007). Perceived discrimination as worldview threat or worldview confirmation: Implications for self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1068-1086. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1068 ↩︎
8. Albarracin, M., et al. (2024). Feeling our place in the world: An active inference account of self-esteem. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2024(1), niae007. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niae007 ↩︎
9. Frankl, V. E. (1984). Man’s Search for Meaning. ↩︎
10. Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.  ↩︎
11. Schultz, W. (1998). Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology, 80(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.1998.80.1.1 ↩︎
12. LeDoux, J. (2000). Emotion circuits in the brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 23, 155-184. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.155  ↩︎