The neurobiology behind decision making | Marte Roa Syvertsen | TEDxFredrikstad

Neurologist Marte Roa Syvertsen examines how decisions are formed in the brain, including the choices that take shape before they reach conscious awareness. Drawing on neuroscience, the talk looks at how context, attention and hidden signals can steer behavior, and how the same mechanisms can be used to influence other people. It also considers how persuasive design and constant stimuli affect what gets our attention. The talk was given at an independently organized TEDx event.

• How choices are formed before conscious awareness
• The role of context, attention and hidden signals in behavior
• How the same mechanisms can be used to influence others
• Persuasive design, algorithms and everyday stimuli

NOTE FROM TED: Research around the brain, addiction, and decision making remains complex and an ongoing field of study. This talk reflects the speaker’s own views and interpretation. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdf Are your decisions really your own? Neurologist Marte Roa Syvertsen takes us inside the brain to examine how choices are formed before they reach conscious awareness. Drawing on neuroscience, she shows how context, attention and hidden signals can steer behavior and how the same mechanisms can be used to influence other people. In a world of algorithms, persuasive design and constant stimuli, understanding how the brain makes decisions is not just fascinating; it may help us make more deliberate choices about what gets our attention and why. Marte Roa Syvertsen is a medical doctor, neurologist, researcher and author with a PhD in neurology and more than a decade of research experience. Her work and public communication focus on how the brain develops, adapts and shapes behavior. She is particularly interested in the gap between what we experience as conscious choice and the many processes operating outside awareness. By translating neuroscience into everyday language, Marte examines both sides of influence: how our decisions are formed, and how knowledge of those mechanisms can be used to guide the choices of others. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx