(Use of English: pt 1, multiple-choice) Click on box and choose answer
Got a tough decision to make?
Research shows you're better off just sleeping on it.
Distracting yourself for a 0) minutes with something else or sleeping on it overnight helps the brain come up with the 1) solution. Those who 2) struggle with a difficult question are more likely to get the wrong answer, compared with those who put it on the mental backburner, experiments show.
Students were asked to choose the best models from four imaginary 3) of car. Each had 12 different features but two had better road holding and fuel 4) . After reading about each car, one group of students was asked to make an 5) choice. Another group carried out a second test which was designed to 6) their minds for five minutes before making their decision. Volunteers in the second group were more likely to select the best car, the results showed. Experts believe this is because their subconscious minds were given the time to 7) up all the pros and cons.
Psychologist Maarten Bos, who 8) the research at Radboud University in the Netherlands, said: ‘Unconscious thought produces better decisions than when people decide immediately. 9) in our current experiments participants did not actually sleep on their decision, the 10) of a period of rest is clear. It allows us to differentiate between the vital and the irrelevant aspects. When your grandparents advised you to sleep on a decision first, they may have intuitively sensed the benefits of 11) it rest to get a clear 12) of one’s priorities.´
The study will be published in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Consumer Psychology.
