Decide without first checking?

• April 19, 2024

Our brain makes decisions before observing the evidence, which contradicts the prevailing theory about making a decision from the perception , according to a joint study by neuroscientists of the Autonomous University of Madrid and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

This means that decisions made in contexts of great uncertainty are largely defined by mechanisms generated internally in the brain .

How our brain works

The specialists discovered that the decisions taken in contexts of great uncertainty are defined by mechanisms that represent the strategy that the individual has developed to optimize the number of successful decisions and, consequently, the benefit obtained from them.

The study also provides information on the dynamics neuronal which reveals how a decision is made: The internally generated signal activates a population of neurons belonging to an area cerebral of high cognitive level, producing the coordinated activation of groups of neurons during the decision process.

When do we decide?

As published in the scientific gazette of the Autonomous University of Madrid, the arrival of a sensory stimulation activity increases neuronal and the decision is reached when this activity exceeds a certain threshold.

In the context of a stimulation weak or even absent, the activity of the neurons would be given by the background brain activity, that is, by neuronal noise.

In this way, the decision would have a random behavior that would explain why the subject claims to have received a stimulus even if it has not been applied.

The results of this research formulate an interesting debate in the field of neuroscience: Are our decisions formed after we are aware of the evidence that supports them? Or, on the contrary, are decisions defined before the evidence reaches consciousness? And you, how do you make your decisions?

Follow us at @GetQoralHealth, GetQoralHealth on Facebook and YouTube

Video Medicine: 12 Things To Check Before Buying A Used Car (April 2024).