When you make a decision about what food to order, what’s happening in your brain? How do you clinch long-term decisions, like hitting the gym instead of doomscrolling? And what does any of this have to do with the ancient Greeks, alien hand syndrome, and constraining a president who wants to launch a nuclear bomb? Join Eagleman this week and next to discover how your brain weighs alternatives and nails down decisions.

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More Information:

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Zaghloul KA, Blanco JA, Weidemann CT, McGill K, Jaggi JL, Baltuch GH, Kahana MJ. Human substantia nigra neurons encode unexpected financial rewards. Science. 2009 Mar 13;323(5920):1496-9.

Schultz W, Dayan P, Montague PR. A neural substrate of prediction and reward. Science. 1997 Mar 14;275(5306):1593-9.

Rangel A, Camerer C, Montague PR. A framework for studying the neurobiology of value-based decision making. Nature reviews neuroscience. 2008 Jul;9(7):545-56.

Danziger S, Levav J, Avnaim-Pesso L. Extraneous factors in judicial decisions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2011 Apr 26;108(17):6889-92.

Damasio, A. Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain. Random House. 2008.

Dixon ML. Uncovering the neural basis of resisting immediate gratification while pursuing long-term goals. Journal of Neuroscience. 2010 May 5;30(18):6178-9.

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McClure SM, Laibson DI, Loewenstein G, Cohen JD. Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards. Science. 2004 Oct 15;306(5695):503-7.

Muraven M, Tice DM, Baumeister RF. Self-control as a limited resource: regulatory depletion patterns. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1998 Mar;74(3):774.

Is it a rabbit or a duck?


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