The news puts our mental resources to the test. The war started by Vladimir Putin can leave us feeling overwhelmed and helpless in the face of the plight of Ukrainians. It also worries us, at the idea that the conflict is overflowing, approaching, or leading to a nuclear catastrophe. All of this when we were already exhausted by two years of tension linked to the spread of a new virus.
What happens when our brain is faced with so many unknowns? Contrary to popular belief, uncertainty does not harm us. “The very essence of the human being, what differentiates him from the animal, is to be able to ask himself questions, to see that he does not know, and therefore that he is faced to the unknown,” recalls Professor Pierre-Marie Lledo, research director at the CNRS and head of the Perception and Memory Unit at the Institut Pasteur. Our brain is not a simple input-output device for information: it constantly makes predictions, the validity of which it checks. “It analyzes the data that comes to it based on its past experience (through memory), the present and the emotions it elicits, and its ability to simulate a desirable future. This means that our brain feeds on uncertainty,” says the researcher. “This is the very basis of its operation. Knowing how to behave in the face of the unknown was an adaptive advantage”, confirms the neuroscientist and columnist at L’Express Albert Moukheiber.
Too much cortisol, not enough serotonin
But, as in all things, not too much is needed. “Uncertainty generates stress, one of the important roles of which is to increase the activity of the brain, with the notable consequence of an increase in vigilance. Our organism then produces chemical signals which will allow it to increase its plasticity. “, describes Thomas Lorivel, doctor of neuroscience. However, if these molecules, starting with cortisol, are found in too large quantities, they become toxic. The brain literally “freezes”, it can no longer adapt.
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A situation incompatible with the production of serotonin, the happiness hormone, the deficiency of which is linked to depression and anxiety. “We must then give ourselves the means to act. When we receive information and we suffer, we are going badly. This can be destructive. But if, on the contrary, uncertainty pushes us to become an actor, then cortisol drops,” recalls Professor Lledo. In the current context, he says, a simple donation to help refugees “can already be a liberating action”.
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But there are also paradoxical effects: “Some people will want to get out of uncertainty quickly by making decisions, but they then risk acting too quickly and making bad choices”, remarks Valentin Wyart, research director at the ‘Inserm (ENS-PSL). According to Pierre-Marie Lledo, the key to resolving this contradiction comes from education: we should learn, from school, to manage uncertainty, thanks to teaching methods that improve self-confidence and in its ability to face the unknown.
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