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Helping You To Know The News > cognitive load and willpower

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message 1: by RandomAnthony (new)

RandomAnthony | 14536 comments Fascinating article on NPR this morning about cognitive load and willpower.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...

"

It turns out, Jonah explains, that the part of our brain that is most reasonable, rational and do-the-right-thing is easily toppled by the pull of raw sensual appetite, the lure of sweet. Knowing something is the right thing to do takes work — brain work — and our brains aren't always up to that. The experiment, after all, tells us brains can't even hold more than seven numbers at a time. Add five extra digits, and good sense tiptoes out of your head, and in comes the cake. "This helps explain why, after a long day at the office, we're more likely to indulge in a pint of ice cream, or eat one too many slices of leftover pizza," Lehrer writes.

This makes sense to me. What do you think? I'm often more likely to stress-eat, for example, if I get home late from work and I'm really tired.


message 2: by [deleted user] (new)

Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. I find that when I'm having a particularly busy day when things begin to overload somewhat, I'll run down to the Starbucks and grab a coffee and a brownie, knowing full well I shouldn't be eating that brownie. Yet I feel better afterward.


message 3: by janine (new)

janine | 7709 comments fascinating indeed. it also gives me another great excuse not to eat healthy. sorry, my brain's making overtime so i can't make rational decissions. it doesn't explain my lack of willpower when it comes to writing and working.


message 4: by Rannie (new)

Rannie Well, the cake would provide the brain almost immediately with the glucose it needs to work, as well as the starch and fat to convert later so maybe there's a reason we go for the sugar. And besides, it's chocolate.


message 5: by Mary (new)

Mary (madamefifi) Brains need sugar. I've seen patients have seizures when their glucose levels get too low.


message 6: by Heather (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments I knew I needed those cookies I ate for breakfast.


message 7: by Mary (new)

Mary (madamefifi) I almost never ignore my body when it tells me it needs sweets.


message 8: by Heather (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments Me either, I've never had much use for willpower. Besides, nothing makes me want to put the hurt on those around me like denying myself something sweet.


message 9: by [deleted user] (new)

::reminds self to always have cookies handy around Heather::


message 10: by Mary (new)

Mary (madamefifi) I tell diabetic patient to carry one of those little tubes of cake frosting around with them and to rub some into their gums or squirt some under their tongues if they start feeling hypoglycemic. Much less risk of aspirating if they go unconscious, plus the sugar is absorbed through the mucus membranes very quickly, even if they are unconscious.


message 11: by Heather (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments hmmm, maybe I should pretend to be diabetic so that I have an excuse to carry around frosting in my purse. I usually just carry around those powdered doughnuts, you never know when you might need them.


message 12: by Heather (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments And that would be wise Jim, you don't want me to put the eye on you. :)


message 13: by [deleted user] (new)

::quickly hides behind ficus to bake some cookies in a hurry::


message 14: by Mandy (new)

Mandy (mandypants) Mary wrote: "I tell diabetic patient to carry one of those little tubes of cake frosting around with them and to rub some into their gums or squirt some under their tongues if they start feeling hypoglycemic. M..."

Such a good idea. I'm going to put one in my purse/car for the husband. He doesn't like the glucose tablets and juice isn't always doable. Thanks for the tip, Mary.

I think my prefrontal cortex might be broken. My willpower is the strongest when my brain is overloaded and busy. Oh well, I am a freak. :-)


message 15: by [deleted user] (new)

::wonder if I even have a prefrontal cortex?::


message 16: by Heather (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments Unless you are Phineas Gage, I'm sure you do


message 17: by [deleted user] (new)

Well, I had to Google Phineas Gage, but I'm glad I wasn't him.



message 18: by Heather (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments :)


message 19: by Sally, la reina (new)

Sally (mrsnolte) | 17373 comments Mod
I'm glad you posted this article, RA! I saw it and immediately thought to share!


Jackie "the Librarian" | 8991 comments Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science Phineas Gage A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman
is an AWESOME book, by the way.

I heard that piece on NPR, too. I wish someone would be waiting outside MY office in the hallway with a choice of fruit or cake.

Um, what was the question? I forget...


message 21: by Sarah (new)

Sarah | 13814 comments I heard the NPR piece too. Really interesting.

And of course, now you all have me very very hungry.

Today, I choose cake. Cake, cake, cake. I'll recite any numbers you want me to.


Jackie "the Librarian" | 8991 comments Hey, there was cake and fruit in the staff room! What else should I wish for?

:::ponders....


message 23: by [deleted user] (new)

Winning Lottery numbers


message 24: by [deleted user] (new)

World Peace


message 25: by Sarah (new)

Sarah | 13814 comments Cake for others.


message 26: by Sally, la reina (new)

Sally (mrsnolte) | 17373 comments Mod
Chocolate.


Jackie "the Librarian" | 8991 comments :::concentrates hard, gets distracted by thoughts of chocolate cake...:::


message 28: by Bonnie (new)

Bonnie this explains how models stay so slim ;)


message 29: by Sarah (new)

Sarah | 13814 comments They don't do math?


Jackie "the Librarian" | 8991 comments They can't count, Sarah Pi. ;)


message 31: by Sally, la reina (new)

Sally (mrsnolte) | 17373 comments Mod
I thought it was because nobody gives them long numbers to try to remember.


message 32: by Kevin (new)

Kevin  (ksprink) | 11469 comments models stay thin because they can't open jars and boxes of food


message 33: by RandomAnthony (new)

RandomAnthony | 14536 comments You can always combine food and yoga...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/din...


message 34: by Cynthia (new)

Cynthia Paschen | 7333 comments Mary's comment about a tube of cake frosting reminded me somehow of watching a Fleetwood Mac concert in Cedar Falls in 1981. Stevie Nicks kept drifting offstage and drifting back on. The Rumor was that her septum was so trashed she had to get someone to blow cocaine up her a-hole. I don't know why that came back in my brain, but there you go.


message 35: by [deleted user] (new)

My wife just attended a presentation given by the Madison Police Dept at her work that talked about plugging, which is anal drug taking. I have to tell ya I'm old because I never knew this existed, but it seems to be a pretty common way of taking drugs now.



message 36: by RandomAnthony (new)

RandomAnthony | 14536 comments And good morning! I'm awake now.

Please tell me that the police did not demonstrate this for the crowd.


message 37: by [deleted user] (new)



Ya live 'n learn Jim.


message 38: by [deleted user] (new)

RandomAnthony wrote: "And good morning! I'm awake now.

Please tell me that the police did not demonstrate this for the crowd."


No, but the discussion did include alcohol, because it will get into your blood stream faster this way.



message 39: by [deleted user] (new)

Windfall Apple wrote: "

Ya live 'n learn Jim."


Never too old to learn.


message 40: by [deleted user] (new)



Yeah, but do we want to Jim??
Ignorance, sometimes, really is bliss..


message 41: by Sarah (new)

Sarah | 13814 comments RandomAnthony wrote: "And good morning! I'm awake now.

Please tell me that the police did not demonstrate this for the crowd."


There's an emergency epilepsy drug that is administered rectally. When I'm doing a high school presentation I always take along an empty (never used demonstration model) syringe of Diastat. If there's a kid who gives me trouble during the presentation I toss that to him and then ask everyone to figure out what it is.
Good for laughs.



message 42: by [deleted user] (new)

Windfall Apple wrote: "

Yeah, but do we want to Jim??
Ignorance, sometimes, really is bliss.."


I can be quite blissful Windfall!


message 43: by [deleted user] (new)



And me also Jim. Blissfully so.


message 44: by Heather (last edited Jan 27, 2010 08:21AM) (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments Cynthia wrote: "Mary's comment about a tube of cake frosting reminded me somehow of watching a Fleetwood Mac concert in Cedar Falls in 1981. Stevie Nicks kept drifting offstage and drifting back on. The Rumor was ..."


That is truly fascinating. Makes me wonder how people ever discovered such things. People never fail to blow my mind.



message 45: by Cynthia (new)

Cynthia Paschen | 7333 comments Heather wrote: "Cynthia wrote: "Mary's comment about a tube of cake frosting reminded me somehow of watching a Fleetwood Mac concert in Cedar Falls in 1981. Stevie Nicks kept drifting offstage and drifting back on..."
I guess a junkie will always be looking for a new vein/hole for his poison. Have you ever watched that A&E TV show "Intervention?" It will teach you all sorts of tricks. Stay away if you are squeamish around needles.



message 46: by Heather (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments I have not seen it, but I'm sure that I will love it. I am always captivated by such things. Thanks for the rec.


message 47: by Cynthia (new)

Cynthia Paschen | 7333 comments Heather wrote: "I have not seen it, but I'm sure that I will love it. I am always captivated by such things. Thanks for the rec."
You can watch whole episodes on line at the A&E site. Many hours of my life have disappeared this way. Glad to enable you any way I can.



message 48: by [deleted user] (new)

I never knew I was squeamish around needles, until after a football game my ribs hurt, so my mom took me into the doctors office to have them looked at, he turns around with the needle in his hand, and the next thing I saw was the floorboard heater. I fainted and fell off the examination table before either of them had a chance to grab me.

I tried to give blood once, it took me a long time to build up the courage to go. Went to the donation center, filled out the paperwork and was told to have a seat, it would be about 10 minutes. About 7 minutes in I was really bright red and sweating, the lady came over to see if I was alright, I just looked at her and said I'm sorry if I wouldn't have had to wait I might have made it as I walked out the door.

That is why I had a wisdom tooth pulled with out pain killer. At the appointment before hand my dentist kept asking if I was sure about this, and I assured him I was. My wife told me that maybe he was nervous about doing it without, so maybe I should just to relax him. So when I went in I told him if it would make him feel better, I would take the shot. He just looked at me and said "oh no, I've been looking forward to this all day". My son came home a couple days later and said that the dentists sons had both made comments to him at school about it. I was the brave man who wouldn't take painkiller. They told my wife at the next visit that I am known as the Patient (read dumbass) that won't take painkiller.



message 49: by janine (new)

janine | 7709 comments i think i like needles - but not in a junkie way. it's fascinating to see the blood flow and painkillers when pulling a wisdom tooth are a must if you ask me.


message 50: by Heather (new)

Heather (heatherjoy) | 384 comments Oh Jim, you should never ever get a tattoo then. Even though I think it was crazy of you to have your wisdom teeth cut out without the meds, I have to tip my hat to you. I'm terrified of the dentist and they can inject me with whatever they want as long as I'm not lucid while I am there.


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