Ep15: Dr. Antoine Bechara on the "gut feeling" and decision-making

What is a gut feeling? Should we trust it? There actually is a neuroanatomic basis for the so-called gut feeling – gut feelings exist and making decisions based on gut feelings is generally advantageous. Learn how gut feelings differ from emotions and how the state of the body influences the brain. Dr. Antoine Bechara, PhD is a Professor Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California. Dr. Bechara received his doctorate from the University of Toronto and completed a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology from the University of Iowa. Dr. Bechara has published over 400 papers and has a Google Scholar H-index of 113. His research focuses on understanding the neural processes behind human decision-making and choices. Along with Dr. Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio, Dr. Bechara studied decision-making of patients with injury to the prefrontal cortex, ground-breaking work on the neuroanatomy behind emotion, and how emotion influences cognition. He has used the somatic marker hypothesis to show the relationship between emotion, decision-making, and memory; here is a link to one of his articles 10.1093/cercor/10.3.295).