Our brains do amazing things without conscious direction. For example, specific portions of our brains are programmed to quickly search for and recognize faces. Our perceptions also are shaped – instantly – by other inputs, including events prior to seeing an image, and events in tandem with seeing an image – such as smelling wine. The wine glass or faces experiment illustrated above is the subject of new work – here – that looks deep into the brain for the technical answers on brain function. For a wonderful general account of the workings of our brains, read Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, a psychiatrist. The book should be required reading for law students and lawyers, especially trial lawyers. Why? Because he explains both System 1 – automatic, "fast" thinking, and System 2 – the much more difficult process of reasoning and doing "slow" thinking. Messages to jurors – or any audience – need to be considered in light of both processes.
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