Should I Get Out Of Bed?
A person makes 35,000 decisions every day. The first being whether to get out of bed. As we go through life we make choices. Good ones and not so good ones. Needless to say, the choices we make everyday impact us. They make us who we are. Some choices led to the discovery of America, some led to the holocaust. The choices we make don't just impact us but the people around us. Every moment we are making a choice. A choice that we may not think will impact someone but it does. In the study done by Dr. Brian Sweis we are able to see first hand at what making a decision does. Whether to go right or left up or down the choices we make lead us to more choices. Choices that impact us and the people around us. In another study done by MD/PhD Jessica Verhein we are also able to see the truth of that as well. Through this blog post I want the reader to think about the choices they are making. Truly knowing the impact that one has can change the world. With that being said let's dive into the first study.
In the first study done by Dr. Brian Sweis and colleagues we were introduced to the question what impact do our decisions make every day. We were able to see the use of rats that there are different signals in the brain that took place. We were able to see first hand through the study that was done where they put a rat in a maze and whether the rat went left or right impacted the neurons in the brain. Regret. What the experimenter and the colleagues wanted to study. There were different foods in each part of the maze but we were able to see that before the rat made the decision to go left or right there would be a signal that quickly went off going back and forth deciding where to go then deciding to go the way it goes. Following the rat around through the works of a device that helped us track it we saw that the rat was thinking about other places while it explored. For example if the rat is going south in a rectangular maze there would be times where the rat would be thinking about the corner that is on the north east side of the maze. Which is incredible because as humans we base our choices off of experience. Before even realizing it we think about what we have done in the past and how it worked and that influences us to make better choices in the future.
In a study done By MD/PhD Jessica Verhein and colleagues the experiment was to put a neural implant that reports about 100-200 singular neurons. Through the use of this implant similar to the first study the researchers were actually able to see the decisions being made at the time it was done but there was also a way that the researcher knew what the monkeys' choices would be. Through the work of repetition the researchers knowing what the monkey may have picked before were able to know the choice the monkey made before the monkey did. This is significant because as I was saying before, the choices we make are the results of previous experiences that were once done. Which explains why our memories are so important because they are only there to remember but to guide us into the future. Learning about the past is so important because we as a people are able to build a better future.
We make so many choices everyday. You made a choice to read this blog post that I am currently writing. The choices we make define who we are as a person. Through the studies that were done we are able to see that first hand. A brain works so hard and builds new neural pathways every time we make a new choice. One single choice can change our entire life. Knowing this I hope as the person reading makes a good choice today. Because you never know what that choice might lead you to.
Work cited
Durand-de Cuttoli, R., Martínez-Rivera, F. J., Li, L., Minier-Toribio, A., Holt, L. M., Cathomas, F., Yasmin, F., Elhassa, S. O., Shaikh, J. F., Ahmed, S., Russo, S. J., Nestler, E. J., & Sweis, B. M. (2022). Distinct forms of regret linked to resilience versus susceptibility to stress are regulated by region-specific CREB function in mice. Science Advances, 8(42). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add5579
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2021/01/watching-decision-making-brain
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