If you are well rested and full, your brain tells you that a bruised overripe apple is a piece of subpar fruit to be passed over. However, if you are exhausted and hungry, an overripe apple is categorized as much-needed food. But how is the brain able to categorize that same apple in these situations? On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, co-host Hannah Waters speaks with contributing writer Conor Feehly about how the brain manages to categorize similar sets of sensory signals in radically different ways. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine.  Each week on The Quanta Podcast, hear the people behind the award-winning publication navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.