The is an interesting article in the NY Times by Benedict Carey on threat perception by soldiers; see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/health/research/28brain.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all or http://tinyurl.com/nojacd The article has a neuroscience orientation and doesn't mention Gerd Gigerenzer's work (which I think is a good thing) though there is a sidebar labeled "The Gut Feeling" (also the title of one of Gigerenzer's books). The article's title, "In Battle, Hunches Prove to Be Valuable", however, probably should be amended to "CORRECT Hunches Prove to Be Valuable" because not all hunches are correct. Indeed, an underemphasized point (well, I thought so) was the role of experience in developing knowledge about what environmental features constitute a threat, thus allowing one to direct attention and perceptual processing. Less experienced soldiers also have hunches, they just tend to be wrong. There appears to be correlated activity in certain brain areas but who knows what to make of that. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
