• Question: Do we have sensors in our brain that can tell us that if somthing is gruesome or not very nice

    Asked by anon-192132 to Simon on 8 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Simon Cork

      Simon Cork answered on 8 Nov 2018:


      Usually when we think something is not very nice, it’s because we’ve experienced it before and it’s either made us sick or scared. Our brains remember that, and so every time we encounter it in the future, we will think of it as being bad. For example, I really hate rollercoasters because they make me scared. Every time I see a rollercoaster, I become nervous because my brain remembers how I feel when I’ve been on them, even though I’m unlikely to be injured by one.

      The same is true for foods. If you eat something (say a pizza) that makes you sick from food poisoning, your brain will remember it and might make you feel sick even before you eat it, because it associates that food with being ill. It’s a way of protecting us from eating or doing things that might make us sick.

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