Sometimes it’s not that easy to make a decision. The brain researcher Professor Doctor Martin Korte has revealed to us why this is and in which situations there is some reason to postpone important decisions.
Decisions. In one moment we make the trickiest, most groundbreaking life decision with the greatest possible clarity and good feeling, and in other moments we can’t even say what we want to have for dinner. How can that be? Why are we sometimes decisive and blessed with absolute perspective and sometimes overwhelmed by the simplest questions? I spoke to the brain researcher Professor Doctor Martin Korte about this.
Conscious and unconscious decisions
In fact, we make numerous decisions in our everyday life without being aware of them very much. Making coffee after we get up, answering messages that end with a question mark, jumping aside in time when two playing dogs race toward us. In such cases, our intuition usually reliably shows us the way, while our thoughts can be directed elsewhere.
Our intuition is great for making decisions in situations where we either need to be very quick, or which, in a similar vein, repeat themselves frequently in our lives, or both. Intuitively made decisions cost our brain comparatively little energy, since rather economical and original regions are used for this, such as the so-called basal ganglia. We then primarily make routine decisions, i.e. based on our experience according to a pattern that we know and have tried and tested.
If, on the other hand, we find ourselves in a situation that is new to us and/or can make a decision in which we would like to weigh up different options or are specifically looking for information that can improve the quality of our decision, then, according to Martin Korte, this is a case for our frontal lobe. This brain region developed relatively late in human history and is unique in its characteristics and characteristics to the human species. Whether creating a pros and cons list, running through “What if…” scenarios or illuminating the consequences of an action for tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and in 30 years, all of this is possible for us thanks to our forehead lobe – that’s why we can theoretically make smarter decisions than, say, a giraffe or a hermit crab.
In addition, our frontal lobe is responsible for what we commonly call willpower. That is to say, if we are faced with the choice between an alluring, comfortable option and one that takes a lot of effort but ultimately pays off, we can choose the latter, primarily with the help of our forehead flap. Pretty handy. But there is a catch: the functions of our forehead lobe are not always available to us in full or even indefinitely.
This is why conscious decisions are sometimes so difficult for us
“Whenever we make a conscious decision, i.e. one that involves our frontal lobe, nerve cells are active that need energy but do not store any energy themselves,” says Martin Korte. “That’s why our frontal lobe can tire when stressed, much like a muscle.” Compared to other parts of our brain, this brain region also needs a lot of energy to work properly. “Our frontal lobe has numerous synaptic connections to other networks and has to link a great deal of information with one another, which is why it is particularly energy-intensive,” says the neurobiologist.
If we are now in a situation in which we want to make a conscious, i.e. energy-intensive decision with a tired frontal lobe, only a fraction of the nerve cells are available for this task, which we could use with a rested frontal lobe or “full computing capacity”. As a result, decision-making in such cases seems incredibly difficult to us – and the quality of our decision may suffer. Instead of the full program from a list of pros and cons to a 30-year-consequence scenario, our forehead rag might just manage to answer the question “what if…” with “I don’t care”. And that may not even be true.
For this reason, at some moments it may actually be better to postpone or hand over a decision rather than agonizing over it – because we don’t easily get a tired frontal lobe back into shape in a second. In the following situations, our frontal lobe is typically not in its most efficient state, so that our judgment and decision-making ability can be impaired.
5 moments when it can actually be better not to make a decision
1. In the evening
After a day full of decisions and challenges, our frontal lobe is usually drained and less fit than in the morning or at our personal peak of the day. That’s why we tend to have less control over ourselves in the evening than during the day. “Most people who want to eat a more balanced diet start out healthy in the morning and often end up sitting on the couch with a bag of crisps,” says Martin Korte. “It has something to do with the fatigue of our frontal lobe, or the nerve cells that encode our long-term goals. They are particularly energy-intensive and vulnerable. That means they are among the first to be switched off when our energy is running low.”
2. When stressed
According to the neurobiologist, when we are stressed, for example because we have a lot going on at the same time or because we are burdened by a larger matter, our computing capacity is limited because part of our frontal lobe is constantly busy with our problems. According to studies, even the intelligence quotient can decrease with stress. A study among American farmers showed that their IQ at the beginning of the season, after they had just spent a lot of money on machines, seeds and the like, was sometimes up to ten points lower than after the harvest Martin Korte. Something similar can be observed in people in challenging life situations, for example after losing a job. “Now it’s not as if these people have become dumber,” says the brain researcher. Due to their stress, they just don’t have all their nerve cells available.
3. When we feel bad
According to Martin Korte, nerve cells in our frontal lobe become active in the event of stress or other unpleasant emotions such as fear, anger or sadness in order to ward off our feelings or to dampen their effect. This mechanism can protect us from uncontrolled emotional outbursts, but it costs energy. As such, when we are sad or scared, or when we are angry and upset, we only have a limited amount of computing power available to make decisions, so it may be better to wait and see. Interesting: This defense reaction is not triggered by positive emotions; on the contrary, pleasant feelings even increase our computing capacity.
4. During a diet/ when we are hungry
Two factors come together when glucose levels are low: we feel bad, which means our frontal lobe has to fight negative emotions, and due to our low energy level we cannot cover the high energy needs of the nerve cells in our frontal lobe. In fact, statistics show that judges tend to make worse judgments before their lunch break than after.
5. When we are physically ill
We may think, fantasize, and feel, but above all, as human beings, we are physical entities. If our energy is used to fight viruses, bacteria or something else, there is not enough left for the demanding nerve cells of our frontal lobe to make complex decisions.
We don’t need 100 percent for every decision
Even if we disregard intuitive decisions and only consider the conscious ones, most days there are very, very many that we have to make. We cannot and do not have to make each of these decisions at full capacity and with 100% attention. On the one hand, even when we are at our best, we can never grasp all the information and details of a context, so a certain courage to leave gaps is necessary in any case. On the other hand, in many moments it doesn’t really matter which decision we make, because the different options ultimately all have the same value. They may have different consequences and cause us more or less trouble, but with every decision we make we create a piece of reality and in the end what we do with that reality is what matters most.
Still, sometimes it may feel more right for us to wait until our frontal lobe is rested and fully functioning before making a decision, because in some ways, that’s when we’re most ourselves and have the most control over our actions that we can achieve. In most cases it may not matter which decision we make – but making a decision and then having the feeling that you didn’t really choose it yourself can sometimes be very painful. And that would in turn put a strain on our frontal lobe.
Professor Doctor Martin Korte is a neurobiologist and head of the department “Cellular Neurobiology” at the Technical University of Braunschweig. His research focuses include the cellular basis of learning and memory and the interaction between the immune system and the brain in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. In his books “Hirngeflüster”, “We are memory” and “Jung im Kopf” he prepares findings from brain research that are relevant to everyday life and for a wide audience. TV viewers may know Martin Korte from the RTL quiz show with Günther Jauch “Bin ich smarter than…”, for which he developed the questions.