The Science of Consequences

Children quickly learn that actions have consequences. This elementary lesson is repeated again and again throughout life as we adjust our behaviour according to the reactions they produce in the social and natural order. The Science of Consequences tells the story of how something so deceptively simple can help make sense of so much. Despite their variety, consequences appear to follow a common set of scientific principles and share some similar effects in the brain. Based on these principles, scientists have been able to create mathematical models of certain beahviours. And they have demonstrated that learning form consequences predictably activates genes and restructures the neural configuration of the brain in humans as well as animals ¿ thus demonstrating consequences are an integral part of the nature-and-nurture system.