Soup or Salad? Decision Making in the Brain

Hi, what can I get for you today?

Can I get a cheese pizza?

And I'll do a margarita small pizza.

Um, can I get the ziti bolognese?

And that comes with a side — do you want soup or salad?

Picture this: eating dinner at a restaurant,

Thinking, “Soup or salad? I don't know what I would want.”

The choice gets sent to the PFC.

What's that? PFC. Repeat after me:

Prefrontal cortex,

Prefrontal cortex,

Prefrontal cortex,

Prefrontal cortex.

The PFC is split in three:

dorsolateral, orbitofrontal, ACC.

Dorsolateral's the past and the future.

Say we've been here before — but are you sure?

What did we choose then, and would we do it again?

And if not, then our options are fewer.

Orbitofrontal next — that's emotion.

Feeling love, or regret, or devotion.

Could make you change your ways,

switch your yays and your nays,

or set reward-based decision-making in motion.

Finally comes the ACC:

It's the last of three

for decision processes.

When the choice calls for effort,

when it feels so laborious,

the anterior cingulate

is never not victorious.

It sorts through the alternatives,

the no’s and the affirmatives,

and comes to a conclusion,

a solution ever glorious.

Up or down, and left or right.

Tell me how you're feeling: Is it fight or flight?

Are you coming along, or are you staying behind?

Queries and decisions all controlling your mind.

But when you're faced with a choice

such as those aforementioned,

how do you decide?

Well, give me your attention.

Once the decision's been made,

and once the plans have been laid,

the chosen neurons start to fire,

and they soon activate

inhibitory blockades

of neurons, keeping away

activity of the neurons

from the option disdained.

So this way,

you don't feel like changing your mind.

And this way,

your head and your heart are aligned.

So display

the role of the PFC.

It's facilitating all the tough calls, you see.

Up or down, and left or right.

Tell me how you're feeling: Is it fight or flight?

Are you coming along, or are you staying behind?

Queries and decisions all controlling your mind.

But when you're faced with a choice

such as those aforementioned,

how do you decide?

Well, give me your attention.

But if your mind's not learning,

and the cogs ain't turning,

if you try to make a choice,

and your brain starts burning,

you could have a disorder

like addiction or dementia:

a defect in your frontal lobe

you can't forget to mention.

But for now,

just let your brain take the wheel.

Dopamine and serotonin,

all the feels

will get you through the thick and thin like a winner.

If only I could choose what to have for dinner…