How Do We Make Decisions? In a Very Important But Small Part of Our Brain
So you can't decide. Pinot or Chardonnay? A Lexus or a BMW? The man who makes seven figures a year but likes to stay home and watch home movies or the guy who barely can pay the rent but takes you out on his motorcycle with the wind dancing through your hair? Tough decisions, maybe. But a small part of your brain is very instrumental in making them, according to newswise.com. Choosing what shirt to buy, what to order for lunch or whether to go with the hearty red wine or the lighter white all involve assigning values to the options. A small brain structure plays a central role in the many decisions like this we make each day. But it hasn’t been clear how a limited number of neurons in this small part of the brain can support an unlimited number of choices. Now, studying how macaque monkeys choose between juice drinks, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that some of the neurons in a part of the bra...