Your Brain on Questions

 Questions have power. It’s more than just an idea, there is actual research on the brain that reinforces the power of questions. We intuitively know that questions shape us in powerful ways. This article from Fast Compay held so much great research on questions, especially for a question obsessed person like me! Consider the implications in your own life when it comes to using questions. Single-minded focus Something happens inside of our brains when we hear a question. A question launches a process called instinctive elaboration. Questions hijack our brains. When we hear a question it takes over everything else, our brains cannot think about anything else while considering a question.  “Research in neuroscience has found that the human brain can only think about one idea at a time. So when you ask somebody a question, you force their minds to consider only your question. As neuroscientist John Medina puts it in his book Brain Rules, “Research shows that we can’t multitask. We are biologically incapable of processing attention-rich inputs simultaneously.” Likewise, Nobel Prize-winning economist Herbert Simon has written that human beings consciously “operate largely in a serial fashion. The more demanding the task, the more we are single-minded.”  (Want to Know What Your Brain Does When It Hears a Question? Fast Company Magazine 2.21.17)  Where Attention Goes Questions have power because our brains can only think about one thing at a time. When the brain encounters a question that is where the attention goes.  What is even more exciting is that the act of contemplating or thinking about something increases our likelihood of acting or creating the change or conditions that the question caused us to consider!  “Behavioral scientists have also found that just asking people about their future decisions significantly influences those decisions, a phenomenon known as the “mere measurement effect.” Back in 1993, social scientists Vicki Morwitz, Eric Johnson, and David Schmittlein conducted a study with more than 40,000 participants that revealed that simply asking someone if people were going to purchase a new car within six months increased their purchase rates by 35%. According to an earlier study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, asking citizens whether they’re going to vote in an upcoming election increases the likelihood that they will by 25%. And in yet another study, this one from 2008, researchers found that asking about one’s intention to give blood raised donation rates by a modest but noteworthy 8.6%. The same effect has been found in studies involving computer sales, exercise frequency, and disease prevention—in each case, all these behaviors can be increased just by asking about them.”  (Want to Know What Your Brain Does When It Hears a Question? Fast Company Magazine 2.21.17)  New Connections Another powerful way that questions work in our brain is by increasing neuroplasticity. Our brains are always changing and looking for new paths and new connections. Questions help our brains make those new connections and pathways. Questions unlock our creative potential!   Asking insightful questions can cause the release of serotonin in the brain, which is a hormone that causes us to feel relaxed. The relaxed feeling allows our brain to pull information from many different places, creating new connections and empowerment that may result in forward momentum. “Our greatest failing is that we neglect the significance of a question and obsess over the accuracy of the answer. Therefore, we end up being satisfied with remarkably accurate answers to meaningless questions and dissatisfied with imprecise answers that attempt to respond to the important issues.”  ― D.A. Blankinship If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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