Posted on 10/28/2008 8:07:11 PM PDT by neverdem
AS we enter the final week of a seemingly endless election campaign, opinion polls continue to identify a substantial fraction of voters who consider themselves “undecided.” Although their numbers are dwindling, they could still determine the outcome of the race in some states. Comedians and other commentators have portrayed these people as fools, unable to choose even when confronted with the starkest of contrasts.
Recent research in neuroscience and psychology, however, suggests that most undecided voters may be smarter than you think. They’re not indifferent or unable to make clear comparisons between the candidates. They may be more willing than others to take their time — or else just unaware that they have essentially already made a choice.
Neuroscientists have begun to tease out the brain systems that make decisions. Even when it takes no more than a second, decision-making is thought to involve two parts, gathering evidence and committing to a choice. In tasks as simple as deciding whether a shifting pattern of dots is moving to the left or to the right, brain activity in the parietal cortex rises as evidence is gathered, eventually reaching a tipping point (though it’s not yet known which brain regions drive the final choice).
Inherent to this process is a trade-off between speed and accuracy. Commit early and you can get on with your life. Take more time and you might make a wiser or more accurate decision. Since a commitment to John McCain or Barack Obama is not required until Nov. 4, for the greatest accuracy, one should gather evidence until that date. So then why aren’t there even more undecided voters? In measurements of decision-related neural activity, after there is enough evidence to reach a person’s decision threshold, his brain can ignore further input even when it might improve accuracy...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
How many data points do you need to know that Obama is a Stalinist, racist, gun grabber who can't tell the truth?
I was having this very conversation today with a friend, and her observation was that the lefties have become so unbearable and obnoxious that McCain supporters are clamming up, but ballots are still cast in secret. We may be on the brink of the biggest upset since Truman beat Dewey. The irony is that the Democrats, who it appears have been practicing voter fraud on a huge scale for years via ACORN, will scream that another election has been stolen by the Republicans. This may be a wilder election than 2000 was.
BREAKING WIRE: ... in a related story, Liberals around the world today announced their newly found mistrust of the so called "two-step" decision making process; adhering to the old belief that hearsay and conjecture were sufficient enough to make a conclusion, the rep for the Liberals patently denied this new theory, claiming it was "yet another Right-wing conspiracy" before throwing a dart at a picture of Karl Rove... more as it develops -end transmission-
I think some people are confused, because common sense tells them there is something very disturbing about 0bama, but the media bombard them with pro-Demonrat propaganda which blames every problem on the Republicans.
“I was having this very conversation today with a friend, and her observation was that the lefties have become so unbearable and obnoxious that McCain supporters are clamming up, but ballots are still cast in secret. We may be on the brink of the biggest upset since Truman beat Dewey.”
The balloting booth is the last great bastion of unsullied freedom. The voter is free to choose to endorse or reject any candidate for any reason that he sees fit, and doesn’t have to justify the decision to anyone, nor refute or even respond to any wild claim of bigotry, greed, hatred, etc. The vote belongs to the voter and the voter alone, rigidly beholden to no group, no orthodoxy, no power structure unless he or she chooses to be. Gosh, the hardcore radical leftwingers (aka the entire democratic party) must absolutely abhor the very idea...
“I was having this very conversation today with a friend, and her observation was that the lefties have become so unbearable and obnoxious that McCain supporters are clamming up, but ballots are still cast in secret. We may be on the brink of the biggest upset since Truman beat Dewey.”
The balloting booth is the last great bastion of unsullied freedom. The voter is free to choose to endorse or reject any candidate for any reason that he sees fit, and doesn’t have to justify the decision to anyone, nor refute or even respond to any wild claim of bigotry, greed, hatred, etc. The vote belongs to the voter and the voter alone, rigidly beholden to no group, no orthodoxy, no power structure unless he or she chooses to be. Gosh, the hardcore radical leftwingers (aka the entire democratic party) must absolutely abhor the very idea...
Yeah...And, either way, it don't mean sheeit.
I’m 43....I knew I wasn’t voting for Obama 25 years ago when I cast my first presidental ballot for Ronald Reagan in 1984. I can’t imagine being a week out and not knowing who I am voting for. Even in non-partisan local elections, I know months or at least 6 to 8 weeks out, who I am voting for.
Scientists develop artificial heart that beats like the real thing
Ripped Scotch Tape Emits X-Rays
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
President John McCain, Vice President Sarah Palin.
Thanks neverdem. There was another topic about this, I’m just too lazy to track it down.
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