[Tyler]

The Angels and Demons of Self Control
     

In
fiction, we like to characterize the problem of self control in terms of
little angels and demons appearing on our shoulders, advocating one path
or a tempting us down another. In reality, the question of how humans
choose between a less appealing high value option and a more tempting
low value option has been a subject of interest to scientists for some
time. Now researchers at the
California Institute of Technology have pinpointed the two brain regions
responsible for managing self control. In people with poor
self-control, a
single brain region, the ventral
medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) seems
to decide based solely on the short term appeal of a choice, such as
picking the tastier of two foods. In people with better self control the
vmPFC interacts with another brain region, the dorsolateral
prefrontal
cortex (DLPFC), which appears to add balance by incorporating long term
considerations, such as the health consequences of the two foods. Colin
Camerer, one of the authors of the research notes, "After centuries
of debate in social sciences we are finally making big strides in
understanding self-control from watching the brain resist temptation
directly". The full research results were published in the May issue
of Science. Only an abstract
is available online but a 26 page
document of supporting material (PDF format) is available.
   

http://robots.net/article/2822.html
     

[one]

Tyler,
FFT, I wonder how the Hippocampus is involved with this?
It is a part of the brain that regulates how much and which sensory input gets through
E.G, If I had a Hippocampus that was letting in information at no regulation like sight my eyes would dilate and let in all available
light and I probably would see things differently, the same with sound, ect... or like people on the drug LSD where
a user experiences "hearing colors" and "Seeing sound".
With that in mind you would have to be educated in the aspects of the food and the effects of them to be let the DLPFC
help balance the decision so 'Ignor ant people' would go around and make mistakes all the time AND, with this in mind as well
their has to be guidance from the sub conscience in some way because we as humans can not just 'load' all our sum into the immediate
thought, it has to be proccessed in an order (what order I do not know) we can express things at a limited rate , including body language
(Do animated people get their point across better?) But machines can communicate between themselves faster than humans can
and if the input is is wrong or destructive in some way, It's like the old saying; "A lie can travel around the world before the truth even gets it's boots on."

-Forgot author-

Keep up the good work and don't mind me I am just rattling around.. and wondering how many needles and experimentation it took to come to a conclusion  regarding the DLPFC