Wang And Aamodt Your Brain Lies To You Analysis

1158 Words5 Pages
In the article “Your Brain Lies to You”, Wang and Aamodt present very a persuasive argument about false beliefs and how widespread it has become. Using mainly logos as a rhetorical appeal, the authors elaborate on various reasons to prove that the brain may not be that reliable after all. They claim that the major reason behind this phenomenon is the way the human brain is wired to process information. Although, the human brain is what defines someone’s intelligence, personality, and uniqueness, it can also mislead its owner. In developing this argument, Wang and Aamodt, explain the different stages of information storage in the human brain - encoding, storage, re-storage, and retrieval, are the different ways of information processing in…show more content…
They drew an analogy between the ways a computer and the human being process information. “The brain does not simply gather and stockpile information as a computer’s hard drive does” (Wang, Aamodt), they imply that the computer is a better processor of information. Unlike the computer, the brain does not have a conventional way of storing memory; hippocampus is the first point of call for any message that comes first into the brain, it stays there briefly, then the information is recalled by the brain and each time this happens, the brain rewrites the information; also, as the brain rewrite and restores, it also reprocesses the message. This information is then gradually transferred to the cerebral cortex, by the time it gets to the cerebral cortex; the authenticity of the message would have been negatively affected because part of the message is lost. For instance, if somebody is presented with two closely related information, the brain tends to retain just one and discard the other, thereby making retrieval impossible. On the other hand, the computer can store whatever it is given it and produce exactly what is stored when there is a demand for…show more content…
They explain that, naturally, it takes months for a message to be transferred from short-term memory (hippocampus) to long term memory (cortex); in the course of this, a message that has been initially disregarded for lack of credibility ends up being accepted within this process. When information cannot be traced to its origin, the credibility of the information is enhanced and it ends up being accepted as authentic; implying that the source of a message plays a vital role in being accepted as true or not. Additionally, the authors point to election campaigns as an example of a situation where people are not able to vividly determine a false statement. Campaign organizers, who have good understanding of source amnesia, sometimes capitalize on this flaw to misinform the society. They carry out this act by a way of repeating the same information and supporting it with references. The reason is those organizers know that if their message that is initially rejected, is engraved in the heart of the people by way of repetition, it will eventually gain acceptance. However, there is a situation where a “misinformation” can work against those who oppose it. During a political campaign, a falsehood is likely to be supported by the people if it is repeatedly debunked, especially by news writers and

    More about Wang And Aamodt Your Brain Lies To You Analysis

      Open Document