Always Coca-Cola

Did you know that a last-resort treatment for severe epilepsy is Corpus Callosotomy or split-brain surgery? It consists, you guessed it, of severing the connections between the two brain hemispheres.

Don’t worry, I won’t get into the details.

Studies on split-brain patients show that as you move through your days, your left brain is busy weaving your experience into one coherent, but not necessarily true, narrative.

In an experiment on a split-brain patient, the word “walk” was presented only to the right side of the patient’s brain, at which he got up and started walking. When asked why he did that, the left hemisphere made up a plausible explanation, and the man answered that he just wanted to go get a Coke.

You’re wired to rationalize your preferences and actions on the spot and seldom nail it.

One more good reason to practice some healthy self-skepticism and surround yourself with people whose judgment you trust.

Image by Tamas Pap