What really happens in our brains when we make a decision? Such as whether we should go left or right at a crossroad.
In: Biology
I’m going to dumb this down and make it very simple, and just give a random example.
You know you need to go a certain direction to fulfill a specific goal (arrive at destination). Fulfilling a goal is rewarding for your brain.
You look at both options (roads) and the information from your eyes travels to the part of the brain that does the higher thinking, where it puts together the full picture of your senses into a coherent thought. “I remember the tree on that road when I first went to this destination, I ought to go that way.”
This information is retrieved from your “memory center.” However, memories are always being “rewritten” by the brain, so to speak, so they are imperfect. As you drive down that direction, the visual stimuli looks more and more unfamiliar, and you feel confused. The road becomes bumpy from gravel, and the shaking/bouncing of the wheel makes your hand vibrate. This is an unfamiliar sensation, which routes through your brain, and you process as strange/new. This leads you to think you really are going the wrong way, so you turn around.
When trying the other road, a strong scent of lilacs fills your nose, which is processed from there, to different parts of your brain. The memory and scent center are very intertwined, and the smells remind you of your childhood. You remember smelling these flowers while your grandmother took this route to get to the destination, and realize you are on the right track.
A lot of decisions are made subconsciously, as a short cut. If you had to think out, consciously, every single task, your brain would be very overwhelmed and not function as rapidly. This is why if you move a trash can, you’ll keep walking toward its original location before getting used to the new setup. Even though you consciously know the trash can has moved, the subconscious pathways your brain uses to do the very simple task hasn’t caught up. So that corner = associated with trash can for awhile. Same with bumping into moved furniture.
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