Is Your Brain Turned On?
By Rosemary Gibson | Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
By Rosemary Gibson. When we listen to experts, our brains turn off. This is the finding from a study conducted by Greg Berns, a neuroscientist at Emory University. Here’s what he did. He asked 24 college students to solve a personal financial problem. He watched their brain activity using a functional MRI and observed a lot of thinking going on.
Next, the students listened to a financial expert who told them what they should do. A second brain scan showed that the students’ brain activity had virtually ceased. The lesson? When we listen to experts, our brains shut down.
When I heard about this study, I couldn’t resist applying the findings to how people make decisions about their health care. Advertisements on television urge viewers, “Ask your doctor.” In other words, don’t think for yourself. Suspend your own thought process and do what someone advises you to do, even if it means you will be exposed to significant risks that are often glossed over.
For optimal health, we can’t delegate the management of our health, or our health care, to someone else. We need to own it. This requires a shift from the notion of consent to informed choice.
Here are 10 questions to help re-engage our brains in health care decisions. Call it a Checklist Manifesto for Informed Choice:
- What is the procedure or test?
- What is the purpose of it?
- What happens if I don’t have it or do “watchful waiting?”
- What are treatment options for the condition I have??
- What are the risks and benefits of these options?
- What do the risks and benefits mean for me and my life?
- Do the risks exceed the benefits?
- If surgery is being considered, how many of the surgeries has the doctor performed?
- Who will perform the surgery? Will residents, or doctors-in-training, be involved?
- How many of these procedures have been done at the hospital where it will be performed?
There’s an added bonus to being fully informed. Research shows that when people have their brains turned on and are engaged in making decisions about their health and health care, they use less intensive and costly approaches to treating their condition. That can only be good for one’s health – and pocketbook.


























