Loading...
We humans often rationalize our mistakes by confabulating explanations, a strategy consistent with Michael Gazzaniga’s hypothesis of a left frontal cortex “interpreter.” In six separate experiments, these researchers examined how experiencing a lack of control affected undergraduate volunteers’ tendencies to identify patterns in a random set of stimuli. The investigators induced a sense of lack of control in participants via three methods: providing feedback that was unconnected to participants’ performance on a computer task versus receiving no feedback (baseline condition); requesting participants to recall a personal experience in which they lacked control versus an experience in which they had full control; and having participants pick …