Part 2 of "On Being Certain" with Robert Burton, MD (BSP 43)

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Episode 43 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Robert A Burton, MD, author of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, which I discussed in Episode 42. Dr. Burton tells us what inspired him to write this book and we explore some of the implications of the fact that what he calls the "feeling of knowing" comes from our unconscious, including the fact that it is not as reliable as it feels.

Listen to Episode 43 of the Brain Science Podcast

Show Notes and Links

Robert A Burton, MD

Previous Episodes of the Brain Science Podcast:
  • Episode 42: Part 1 of our discussion of On Being Certain
  • Episode 13: Unconscious Decisions-featuring Blink by Malcom Gladwell
  • Episode 15: Interview with Read Montague about unconscious decisions
Other scientists/writers mentioned in this episode: Other terms mentioned in the interview: Cotard's Syndrome: when the patient believes they do not exist or that they are dead cognitive dissonance: a mismatch between what one believes and what the evidence supports

Listen to Episode 43 of the Brain Science Podcast

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Review: "On Being Certain" (BSP 42)

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Episode 42 of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not by Robert Burton, MD. This part 1 of a two part discussion of the unconscious origins of what Dr. Burton calls "the feeling of knowing." In Episode 43 I will interview Dr. Burton. Today's episode provides an overview of Dr. Burton's key ideas. In past episodes I have discussed the role of unconscious decision-making. On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not by Robert Burton, MD takes this topic to a new level. First, Dr. Burton discusses the evidence that the "feeling of knowing" arises from parts of our brain that we can neither access or control. Then he discusses the implications of this finding, including the fact that it challenges long-held assumptions about the possibility of purely rational thought.

Listen to Episode 42 of the Brain Science Podcast

References and Links:

On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not by Robert Burton, MD

Neisser, U., and Harsh, N. "Phantom Flashbulbs: False Recollections of Hearing the News about Challenger,"  in Affect and Accuracy in Recall: Studies of "Flashbulb" Memories, Winograd, E., and Neisser, U., (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992)

The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers by Daniel L. Schacter

The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness by Antonio Damasio

Philosophy in the Flesh : The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

Other Scientists Mentioned in this Episode:

  • Leon Festinger-proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance in 1957
  • Joseph Ledoux-research with rats and the role of the amygdala in the fear response
  • Michael Merzenich-showed how the auditory cortex in young rats is affected by experience

Listen to Episode 42 of the Brain Science Podcast

itunes-chicklet.gif Subscribe via iTunes™ Subscribe in a reader or podcatcher Subscribe to Brain Science Podcast with Dr. Ginger Campbell by Email Donations and Subscriptions are appreciated

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Send email feedback to Ginger Campbell, MD at docartemis at gmail.com

Share your comments on the Discussion Forum

Read More