> (interestingly, it makes decision making hard -- for me, it now requires me to write a pro/con list when facing a decision because there are few emotions invo

> (interestingly, it makes decision making hard -- for me, it now requires me to write a pro/con list when facing a decision because there are few emotions involved, even when buying something that should be slightly exciting, like a new car) This is actually a known phenomenon! Emotions are key to the decision-making process, and when they are impaired for whatever reason then you are more likely to make suboptimal decisions. I recommend Antonio Damasio's book Descartes' Error for a good picture of how this works.