And that is true, although judges are air conditioned.
This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
But it's the outside temperature nevertheless seems to have an effect.
The past is not a place where my mind naturally wanders.
My colleagues and friends can tell you that for better or worse, my focus is almost always on what lies ahead.
But it's a very specific moment from the past that I've been thinking about a lot in recent days.
It was March 2018, and a snowstorm was headed for New York City.
It's been established in at least one study that for judges who are keen on football, the result of their team on Sunday or Saturday, depending on whether it's professional or college, will affect the judgment they make on Monday, and they will be more severe if their team lost.
He missed the extra point.
Wide right.
I wasn't in New York, but that storm was the focus of all my worry and attention.
That's a terrifying idea, isn't it, Danny.
That you're sort of hoping that your.
That's because New York was the home of the great psychologist and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman.
Judges football team wins the Sunday before your case is heard?
Yes, absolutely.
We had invited him to come to NPR studios in Washington, DC, to tape an episode with us in front of a live audience that had come in from around the country.
And you are also hoping to find a judge who is in a good mood, to find a judge who is rested, has had a good night, who is not too tired.
Danny was worried that the storm might keep him from returning to New York, and he really needed to get back after the event.