Thinking Beyond Science

Every decision we make goes deeper than mere thought or logic — it starts with a stimulus and moves through a complex web of emotions and brain activity that often operates long before we’re even aware of it.

The Spark: When Stimuli Meet Need
Decision-making begins the moment we are exposed to a stimulus combined with a felt need. These stimuli come in countless forms — a billboard glimpsed while driving, a friend’s recommendation, a TV commercial during our favorite show, or even a product’s subtle placement in a movie scene. A new lipstick flashed on-screen or an actor riding a stylish bike can be enough to plant a seed in our brain, nudging us toward a choice later on.

Our environment constantly serves up these cues, triggering sensory responses that pull the brain into action. Visual images travel to the visual cortex, sounds to the auditory cortex, and together they set off the long chain reaction leading to a decision.

The Brain Decides Before We Do
Remarkably, research shows that our brains begin forming a decision up to ten seconds before we become consciously aware of it. Activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortex encodes the outcome ahead of time — meaning our awareness of the “moment of choice” often comes after the choice is already made.

In truth, our rationality is deeply entwined with emotion. As neuroscientist Antonio Damasio suggests, emotion doesn’t hinder rationality — it creates it. Rationality, in this sense, is the brain’s way of adapting reason to personal and social contexts. We cannot be truly rational without being emotional.

Conscious and Unconscious Mind at Work
Our decision-making is a mix of conscious and unconscious processes — both cognitive and emotional. Each plays its own role and proportion in shaping choices.

• Conscious Cognition (20–50%) — This involves deliberate, logical reasoning. It’s when you consciously evaluate facts, compare product specifications, or calculate lifetime value before buying something.
• Unconscious Cognition (20–40%) — Here, the brain uses heuristics — mental shortcuts based on limited information that help us decide quickly. For example, assuming a higher-priced product means better quality is a price heuristic. These shortcuts conserve mental energy but can also lead to biases.
• Conscious Emotion (10–30%) — These are emotions we’re aware of influencing our choices. Fear of heights might keep us from skydiving; admiration for a friend’s new car can trigger a desire to own one.
• Unconscious Emotion (30–60%) — A large portion of our choices originate from emotions we don’t realize are at play. These hidden feelings guide big and small decisions alike — from choosing a vacation spot to selecting a detergent brand.

How Stimuli Travel Through the Brain
Every sensory cue — a sound, a sight, a smell — enters the brain through specialized cortex regions. These neurons then relay signals to interconnected areas involved in evaluating value and reward. The orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortices compute expected pleasure and outcomes on a common scale. Networks in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex then transform these signals into clear preferences — translating “I like this more” into action.

Even as advertisements or brand messages create new associations, they also recall old memories linked to the brand or category. Thus, decision-making is not merely about processing new information but reactivating what the brain already knows — consciously or unconsciously.

The Emotional Logic of Choice
So much of what we label “rational choice” is, in fact, an emotionally charged calculation. Our sensory systems, memories, and unconscious emotions all work in harmony — or sometimes conflict — to guide every selection we make. Whether we buy Surf Excel, choose a car, or decide where to live, the final choice represents a synthesis of reason, memory, and emotion.

In the end, our decisions are not isolated acts of logic. They are living interactions between the mind, the senses, and the heart — orchestrated quietly by a brain constantly seeking patterns, comfort, and meaning.

Source : Brands and the Brain: How to Use Neuroscience to Create Impactful Brands by Arvind Sahay

Goodreads :https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60693959-brands-and-the-brain

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