The Nature & Nurture Podcast Nature & Nurture #24: Dr. Tor Wager - Affective Neuroscience & Belief
Oct 6, 2021
Dr. Tor Wager, a Dartmouth neuroscience professor studying emotion, pain, belief, and mind–body interactions. He explores whether perceptions are ever neutral. He discusses placebo and belief manipulations, meditation and attention, and how emotions and pain can be shaped by appraisals and predictions.
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Reducing Internal Interruptions Improves Cognitive Control
- Meditation and flow informed Tor's view that improved attention emerges by reducing internal interruptions from default-mode processes.
- Stress and self-reflection networks (ventromedial PFC) can disrupt frontoparietal attention systems, degrading cognitive control.
Free Will As A Useful Illusion From Complex Brain Dynamics
- Tor endorses a scientifically defensible view that free will is an illusion produced by complex brain interactions, not a separate magic ingredient.
- Complexity and chaotic dynamics create a practical unpredictability even if theoretically deterministic.
Frame Choices As Identity To Strengthen Willpower
- Use self-relevant thoughts to tip decisions toward long-term goals by enhancing perceived benefits and identity (e.g., see yourself as a healthy person to choose a salad).
- Framing choices in identity terms strengthens self-regulation neural mechanisms.