The Last Frontiers of AI: Can Scientists Design Creativity and Self-Awareness?

That's where hallucinations, reflexes, Post Traumatic Stress, Phobias, and most importantly, dreams come from. You are right, the mind doesn't deal with much external data. Sense organs are all processed elsewhere, however, some sections of processing overlap, autonomic vs. reflex, etc. The conscious portion of human beings is very tiny compared with all the subconscious and unconscious/automatic processes going on.