
Sometimes, we make better decisions when we taken more time to think, and there are times when time really doesn't matter.
A study led by Zachary Mainen, Director of the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme reports that when rats were challenged with a series of perceptual decision problems, their performance was just as good when they decided rapidly as when they took a much longer time to respond.
Despite being encouraged to slow down and try harder, the subjects of this study achieved their maximum performance in less than 300 milliseconds.
This study suggests that rats can be used as an animal model to investigate what is happening in the human brain when 'intuitive' decisions are being made.
"Decision-making is not a well-understood process, but it appears to be surprisingly similar among species. This study provides a basis to begin to take apart one type of decision and see how it really works," the author added.
The study is published in the scientific journal, Neuron.
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