Decision making potential of the brain relies on interaction with others”, study states.

DEC 24, 2016

Traditional concepts and cognitive psychology have always given us the idea that the brain’s decision making exercises are similar to that what happens as in a computer. This aspect has now been challenged by a latest study conducted under Mr Gaelle vallee-Tourangaeu , Professor at Kingston University in Britain.

Our decision-making is higly influenced by our interaction with people aroubnd us. “The idea that thinking is done only in the head is a convenient illusion that doesn’t reflect how problems are solved in reality”, said Vallee-Tourangeau “When you write or draw, the action itself makes you think differently. If you give them something to interact with they think in a different way,” Vallee-Tourangeau added.

For the study the researchers inspected how maths anxiety – the distorted emotional response to mental arithmetic that can cause the affected ones to avoid even simple tasks like splitting a restaurant bill — could potentially be mitigated through interactivity. “We found that for those adding the sums in their head, their maths anxiety score predicted the magnitude of errors made while speaking a word repeatedly. If they’re really maths anxious, the impact will be huge,” Vallée-Tourangeau explained.

“But in a high interactivity context — when they were moving number tokens — they behaved as if they were not anxious about numbers,” Vallée-Tourangeau said. Understanding how our brain and its decision making skills get enhanced on higher interaction can be a significant development especially regarding how it can help businesses improve productivity – and helps an individual maybe to get hold of a job. The study was published in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications.