In the mammalian brain, tens of billions of nerve cells, with their tiny tree-like structures, make up a massive network capable of enormous computational power. In this talk, Giorgio Ascoli reveals that the branching shape of brain cells has a huge impact in determining what and how we learn and later remember. In the process, Ascoli ties together the foundations of neuroanatomy with psychological principles such as memory gating by background information. The talk also explains why humans can quickly absorb causal associations while seamlessly filtering much more numerous spurious cooccurrences. Experience sculpts network connectivity, making every individual absolutely unique. The speaker moved to neuroscience after training in chemistry, and his lab now uses neuroinformatics and data-driven modeling to investigate the mechanisms linking neural circuitry to cognition and consciousness. Giorgio Ascoli received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Neuroscience from the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy. He continued his research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, to investigate protein structure and binding in the nervous system. He moved to the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University in 1997, leading a transdisciplinary research group that includes biologists, physicists, computer scientists, and physicians. Dr. Ascoli is founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuroinformatics and an editorial board member of several other international journals. He contributed to the establishment of the field of computational neuroanatomy. His 2015 book “Trees of the Brain, Roots of the Mind” was published by MIT Press. Dr. Ascoli received the 2012 Outstanding Faculty Award of the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia, was elected AIMBE fellow in 2022, and won the Beck Presidential Medal for Excellence in Research and Scholarship. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx