Sorry, Mr. Spock, Our Emotions Are Essential to Good Decision-making
Learn how to use your emotions to make meaningful decisions and avoid letting moods lead you to poor choices.
When I was in medical school, I had the opportunity to spend time with a dynamic neurologist named Dr. Antonio Damasio. He described an interesting patient who could not decide whether to have a ham or turkey sandwich for lunch. The patient who had previously been a successful attorney could enumerate the pros and cons of each option clearly and logically but could not use that information to make a decision. He was trapped in indecision, not just about his lunch order, but about all the decisions in his life, big and small.
The patient had previously undergone minor brain surgery, but testing showed that he suffered no cognitive impairment. In fact, he scored high on all his cognitive tests and was able to think through and solve logical problems. He could not answer questions about what he wanted, whether that be when he wanted to schedule his next appointment or what he wanted for lunch.
A brain scan showed that his surgery had severed the connection between his amygdala (part of the brain responsible for emotions) and the Pre-frontal Cortex (the logical part of the brain responsible for…
