Sunday, February 3, 2013

Choices and Energy

There seems to be a difference in terms of brain energy expenditures between comtemplating options and actually makes choices. In one study by Yale University Professor Nathan Novemsky and his colleagues, participants who were asked to rate the attractiveness of different options were much less depleted of brain energy than were participants who were asked to actually make choices between the very same options.  It requires more brain executive resources to switch from a state of deliberating to a state of implementation. It takes more energy to transition from thinking about options to actually following through on a decision. Since making choices appears to deplete the brain's executive resources, subsequent decisions may be affected adversely if you are forced to choose with a fatigued brain.

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