Are People Better Thinkers When They Aren't Trying?

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:40:29 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Brain Makes Good Unconscious Decisions

Researchers have shown that the human brain — once thought to be a seriously flawed decision maker — is actually hard-wired to allow us to make the best decisions possible with the information we are given.

Contrary to Kahnneman and Tversky’s research, Alex Pouget, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, has shown that people do indeed make optimal decisions — but only when their unconscious brain makes the choice.

“A lot of the early work in this field was on conscious decisionmaking, but most of the decisions you make aren’t based on conscious reasoning,” says Pouget.

reach a reasonable decision in a reasonable amount of time. If we had to wait until we’re 99 percent sure before we make a decision, Pouget says, then we would waste time accumulating data unnecessarily. If we only required a 51 percent certainty, then we might reach a decision before enough data has been collected.

Tags: decision making, brain, unconscious

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Are People Better Thinkers When They Aren't Trying?

Brain Makes Good Unconscious Decisions