(Image: Charlotte Hu/Getty)
Logic doesn’t come easily to humans, but it is possible to go beyond your gut reactions – if you practise
We like to think of ourselves as rational and logical creatures. And so we can be – but not without some effort.
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Logical thought requires us to behave like a microprocessor, executing stepwise operations on information using the rules of logic. This doesn’t come naturally to most people, requiring outside instruction to learn and lengthy training to master. Even then, we struggle to maintain a purely rational perspective.
It turns out that there is a kernel of truth in the popular wisdom that “left brain equals logic”. Imaging studies have shown that the left prefrontal cortex is needed to make logical trains of thought happen and, a lot of the time, no input is needed from the right.
“There is a kernel of truth in the popular wisdom that left brain equals logic”
But when there is conflict between what seems logical and beliefs we already hold, the right side of the prefrontal cortex kicks in to help sort out the confusion (). Unfortunately, the right hemisphere usually wins. Study after study has shown that where new information conflicts with existing beliefs, our brains bend over backwards to keep beliefs intact rather than revise them.
Another surprise is that, contrary to popular wisdom, emotions aren’t necessarily the enemy of rationality. People who have damage to the part of the prefrontal cortex that processes emotions struggle to make decisions at all, especially when there is no logical advantage to either option ().
So embracing our not-particularly logical gut feelings about decisions might actually help us make more rational choices. But not always: other studies have shown that strong emotions can interfere with making rational decisions, particularly when they concern people we love.
Other than hard graft – and an appreciation of the role of belief and emotion – is there anything we can do to become more logical?
Vinod Goel, a cognitive psychologist at York University in Toronto, Canada, says that a zap to the head might one day help. “Brain stimulation techniques may eventually offer a route to improving reasoning,” he says. His team recently used a similar approach to enhance creative thought and, he says, “one can imagine the same techniques being used to enhance our ability for logical reasoning.” As yet, though, there is no shortcut. For now, he says, practice is your best option. Recent studies have shown that a few months’ training in rational thought, as part of law degree training, increased the number of connections between frontal and parietal lobes and between the two hemispheres (). The catch is, without regular practice this effect would almost certainly fade a few months after the course ended.
Read more: “Mind expanding: 7 ways to fine-tune your brain“
