Sreemoyee Chatterjee
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Written By: Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Updated : August 20, 2018 12:16 PM IST
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While few decisions we take seem irrational as they are based on existing biases and beliefs, a recent study has shown that our brain is pretty much able to take logical decisions by setting aside the previously held notion, according to a media report by Deccan Chronicle. Interestingly, the research shows that our brain gives adequate importance to accumulation of evidence during any decision making and that it assesses and updates prior knowledge as it keeps on receiving new ones over time.
Michael Shadlen, the study's senior author, reportedly said that as we interact with the world, our brain keeps on developing new opinions and beliefs about our surroundings every day. While at times, the knowledge our brain absorbs comes from education or a feedback that we receive, in most cases, our brains do not learn from a teacher but from the accumulation of our own experiences.
The participants of this study were asked to watch a group of dots as they moved across a computer screen, like grains of sand blowing in the wind, highlights the media report.
Dr Zylberberg, one of the researchers reportedly said, "Originally, we thought that people were going to show a confirmation bias and interpret ambiguous evidence as favouring their pre-existing beliefs but instead we found the opposite, people were able to update their beliefs about the bias in a statistically optimal manner."
Dr Wolpert, professor of neuroscience at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, reportedly said, "The brain performed counterfactual reasoning by asking 'What would my choice and confidence have been if there were no bias in the motion direction?' Only after doing this did the brains update its estimate of the bias." The study was published in the journal, Neuron.
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