Why Choose this Book?: How We Make DecisionsTo the list of writers connecting mainstream readers and cutting-edge science ;Malcolm Gladwell, Steven Johnson, James Surowiecki ;add Read Montague, with this exploration of what exactly determines the choices we make. With a new perspective on the science of decision-making from the researcher at the center of the computational neuroscience revolution, Why Choose This Book?shows what the latest brain science reveals about the crucial events of everyday experience ;the choices we make. From how we decide what we consume to what kind of art we like, and even the romantic, ethical, and financial choices we make, Read Montague guides the reader through a new approach to the mind with an accessible style that is both entertaining and illuminating. In taking apart the mind's decision-making machinery, Montague first illustrates how our brains are like computers that are slow, small, fuzzy, and cheap ;and began with goals like food, water, and sex. Second, he reveals how simple goals like these then turn into ideas like beauty, love, and terror with a life of their own. Finally, he explains how a value system in our heads controls those ideas so we can make good decisions ;and how that physical system can break down leading to bad decisions, addictions, mental illness, and even large economic disasters. |
Contents
Computers That Care | 1 |
The Brain Is Almost Perfect | 23 |
My Rabbit Knows What to | 57 |
Copyright | |
10 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
action potentials actions addiction algorithm amino acids axons basic behavior biological computations body dysmorphic disorder brain regions brain responses brand capacity cerebral cortex choice choose cognitive complex computational device computational neuroscience connection cost counterfactual creature critic signals cultural Dayan decision decision-making dopamine burst dopamine neurons dopamine system drug efficient computation ence encoded energy error signal experience fMRI future goals guidance signals Heaven's Gate cult hyperscan idea imaging important impulses inequality aversion instincts interactions internal juice kind learning signals machine mechanisms mental messages mind nervous system neural neuroimaging neuroscience origami Parkinson's disease patterns payoff Pepsi physical possible prediction error prefrontal cortex probe problem processing proxy regret reinforcement learning reward-prediction error Sejnowski simple simulations social strategy striatum TDRL theory things thought tion trust Turing Turing's ultimatum game uncomputable understanding valuation value function
References to this book
Story Proof: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Story Kendall Haven No preview available - 2007 |