Law and neuroscience. Judges’ decision making

Abstract

The text explores the relationship between neuroscience and law, focusing on how brain processes affect judicial decisions. Brain systems 1 and 2 are distinguished, as they operate intuitively and deliberately re-spectively, and their implications in perception, memory, cognitive biases, heuristics and decision making in the judicial field are examined. In ad-dition, the role of emotions, stress and empathy in judicial impartiality is analyzed, as well as the importance of non-verbal communication in the assessment of testimonial evidence. It is highlighted how personal biases and attitudes also influence decisions and it is suggested that awareness and training can mitigate these biases. In summary, knowledge of brain processes can improve the quality of judi-cial decisions by reducing the influence of cognitive biases and improving impartiality.