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The Truth Behind Quick Decisions Many in the business community believe in Malcolm Gladwell's maxim, "Don't think--blink!" When a CEO of a company is well-versed in the issues and functions of their company, often decisions have to be made on a moments notice. Having insight in how to make better snap decisions can make the difference between success or failure. Gladwell's book, Blink, was partially based on science and partially on anecdotal evidence. Yesterday, the BBC ran a science story that adds legitimacy to his argument. Researchers have determined that in some situations people make better decisions in a fraction of a second than they do when given time to study a problem: Ten volunteers were shown a computer screen covered in over 650 identical symbols, including one rotated version of the symbol. They were asked to decide which side of the screen the rotated image was on. Given a fraction of a second to look at the screen, the subjects were 95% accurate. But when they were allowed to scrutinize the image for over a second, they were only 70% accurate. Dr Li Zhaoping, of UCL's Department of Psychology said: "This finding seems counter-intuitive. All of this goes a long way in supporting those successful people who credit their success to so-called intuition. That is a very human trait: when we don't know the reason for something we assign it to a category that embraces the undefined. The truth is we can prepare ourselves to make good, fast decisions. It is called hard work and preparation. Welcome to the future -- and the past. www.gagglescape.com