UNCERTAINTY

Usage: Uncertainty shows in a. involuntary sideward eye movements called CLEMS; b. self-touch gestures; c. frowns; d. hand-behind-head cues; e. side-to-side head-shakes; f. head-tillt-side; g. lip-pout, lip-purse, and tense-mouth; h. palm-up gestures; and i. the shoulder-shrug.

Evolution. Feelings of uncertainty demonstrate a link between emotional and cognitive (i.e., "thinking") modules of the primate brain.

Fuzzy logic. A conceptual tool known as "Fuzzy Logic" has been developed to cope with pervasive human uncertainty. It has recently been adapted for use in A.I. (see Artificial intelligence) and product design (see Consumer product).

Jurisprudence. "Beyond a reasonable doubt" is a cornerstone of common law. Yet judges find it hard to explain what the phrase means to jurors. Words for reasonable include "adequate," "alright," "decent," "fair," "good," "logical,""proper," "rational," "respectable," and "tolerable." Phrases include "not excessive," "within limits," and "using good judgement." Words for doubt include "indecision," "misgiving," "obscurity," "puzzle," "question," and "unsure." Phrases include "touch-and-go," "shot in the dark," and "pig in a poke."

Qualifying the English word doubt with the adjective reasonable results in a seriously ambiguous oxymoron.

Furthering the ambiguity of "reasonable doubt" are its roots in medieval theology. In The Origins of Reasonable Doubt: Theological Roots of the Criminal Trial, author James Q. Whitman explains the early Christian belief that judging others--for both jurors and judges--carried the risk of eternal damnation. "Reasonable doubt" evolved as a way to minimize the theological risk.

Observation. Barely visible fragments of the above signs may reveal uncertainty (see PROBING POINT).

Personal reflection. From decades of observation, I have found a strong undercurrent of uncertainty in spoken conversations. Nonverbally, this is evident in the high frequency of shoulder-shrugs. Verbally, uncertainty is evident in English speakers' usage of words like "someday," "somehow," and "something," and in phrases like "maybe so," "sort of," and "kind of."

Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. --Voltaire (1694-1778)

RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Signs of deep and "perplexed reflection" include the frown (contraction of the corrugator or "muscle of reflection"); downward-cast eyes; touching the forehead, mouth, or chin; and beard-pulling (Darwin 1872:220-26). 2. "In states of perplexity men will rub their chins with their hand, or tug at the lobes of their ears, or rub their forehead or cheeks or back of the neck. Women have very different gestures in such states. They will either put a finger on their lower front teeth with the mouth slightly open or pose a finger under the chin" (Montagu 1971:208). 3. "The huu of puzzlement, surprise, or slight anxiety is directed toward such things as small snakes, unknown creature rustlings, dead animals, and the like. This sound is made even when a chimpanzee is alone" (Goodall 1986:131).

Neuro-notes I. An uncertain feeling is a secondary emotion a. mediated by the emotional limbic system (esp. the amygdala and anterior cingulate gyrus), and b. linked to cognitive thought processes via circuitry in prefrontal, sensory, and association modules of the cerebral cortex (Damasio 1994).

Neuro-notes II. Not everyone considers uncertainty to be an emotion, as I myself and Jerome Kagan (What Is Emotion?: History, Measures, and Meanings [New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2007]) do. An argument in favor is emotional uncertainty's involvement in the shoulder-shrug display. Like the muscles that activate our facial expressions, the upper trapezius muscles that activate our shrugs are linked to emotional brain modules via special visceral efferent, rather than by somatic, nerves.

Neuro-notes III. Uncertainty may stimulate the primate brain's prefrontal cortex to learn (Massi, Donahue, and Lee 2018). [Massi, Bart, Donahue, Christopher H., and Daeyeol Lee (2018). "Volatility Facilitates Value Updating in the Prefrontal Cortex." Neuron (Vol 99, Issue 3, Aug. 8, 2018), pp. 598-608.]

Neuro-notes IV. Uncertainty about one's own fate in life--i.e., existential doubt--begins in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Via links to the amygdala, hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands, the ACC triggers a sympathetic-nervous system response and release of cortisol (a stress hormone) into the bloodstream--and thence back into the brain.

See also HUMAN BRAIN.