Three Mental Puzzlers: An Explanation

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that these three mental puzzlers are quite horrible to think about. But... there is a point to all of this.

Basically, scientists performed some very interesting research by asking these three puzzlers to a sample set of people and observed their brain responses to each. The results were as follows:

• The first question tended to invoke activity in the portion of the brain that is responsible for making decisions based on logic.
• The second question tended to invoke activity in the portion of the brain that is responsible for making decisions based on emotion.
• The third question invokes both the emotional and logical decision-making portions of the brain. Furthermore, it invokes both of these regions much more intensely than either of the two previous questions.

This alone is fairly interesting, but the researchers found that the final puzzler actually caused a third portion of the brain to become highly active in addition to the other two. This is a highly evolved portion that is only found in humans and not in other primates. It is what gives humans the ability to arbitrate between possible solutions that seem to internally conflict. If something is logical but emotionally challenging, or illogical but emotionally pleasing, this part of the brain makes the final decision. Test subjects who were able to make the "logical" decision to the last question were very active in this portion of the brain, while subjects who couldn't make a rational decision tended to have much less activity in this portion of the brain.

Take it for what it's worth, but it's good to know that at least most humans can make more advanced decisions that our simian brothers and sisters!