Jumping to conclusions? Studying the shortcuts our brain takes

Morning North7:05Summer U - mental shortchuts

In this installment of Summer U, we check out research at Laurentian University on mental shortcuts. Markus Schwabe paid a visit to Joel Dickinson, faculty member and chair of the Psychology Department at Laurentian University to find out all about it.Laurentian University associate professor Joel Dickinson believes brain activity can help peoplebetter understand stereotypes.

Her research focuses on mental shortcuts, the ways thebrainjumpsto conclusions as it gathers information.

Dickinson uses the word airport as an example. Even without visiting an airport,most people will think ofa structure with planes and people.

Dickinson saidthese mental shortcuts, or schemas, make memory easier.

"Most of the time they're beneficial," she said. "Unfortunately, some of those schemas fall under the category of a stereotype."

"For instance, when I say 'mechanic'you get an idea of what a mechanic looks like.If Isay the mechanic dropped the wrench and shebent down to pick it up ... there's a slow-down effect of the information and processing.When we violate [the schema]our brain slows down. It chugs a little bit."

Dickinsonis pursuing a new line of research thatsuggestswheninformation takes longer to process, it is attributed as negative, and that peoples' brains are trained to accept stereotypes.

For example, Dickinson saidthe statement "Jane and her wife" would be considered negative because it goes against the societal norm.

Further research is needed to look atreducing or removing the slow-down effect in peoples' brains.

Her research also indicates that people entrenched in the francophone culture in Canada were far more forgiving with violating schemas.

"They're doing something right," Dickinson said, adding more research is needed to understand why.