Lafayette Hosts Lecture by David Eagleman, ‘The Cognitive Neuroscience of Financial Decisions’

Renowned neuroscientist and international bestselling author David Eagleman will present a lecture titled “The Cognitive Neuroscience of Financial Decisions” at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28 in the Oechsle Hall auditorium at Lafayette College. In this talk, he translates cutting-edge neuroscience into everyday examples to illuminate financial decision-making from new angles. It is free and open to the public.

For example, Why do people store their money in Christmas accounts that earn no interest? What do Odysseus and the sub-prime mortgage meltdown have in common? What is the cost of time, brain-wise? Do impulsive people view waiting as having a higher cost? Why do patients on Parkinson’s medications become compulsive gamblers? How could President Obama have improved the delivery of his 18 month promise to withdraw from Afghanistan? What happens when two people enter economic exchanges, and what have we learned about the roles of trust and reputation? How can we take lessons from brain science to make better decisions?

The lecture is being held in recognition of the 10th anniversary of Oechsle Hall, a state-of-the-art teaching and research facility for neuroscience and psychology at Lafayette. The building provides 45,000 square feet of space on four levels for students and faculty, including classrooms, teaching laboratories, faculty-student research laboratories, faculty offices, and student meeting areas. Originally built in 1922-24 as Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, the building was renovated in 2001-02 and reopened as Oechsle Hall. See slideshow about Oechsle Hall.

Eagleman directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he also directs the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Next Generation Texas Fellow, a council member on the World Economic Forum, a research fellow in the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and a board member of The Long Now Foundation. He is an academic editor for several scientific journals, and has been named one of 2012’s Brightest Idea Guys by Italy’s Style magazine. He is the scientific advisor for the television drama Perception, and has been profiled on the Colbert Report, NOVA Science Now, The New Yorker, CNN’s Next List and many other venues. He appears regularly on radio and television to discuss literature and science.

His visit is sponsored by the Office of the Provost at Lafayette College. For more information, contact James Dearworth, associate professor of biology and neuroscience and chair of neuroscience, (610) 330-5466, dearworj@lafayette.edu.

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Photos courtesy of Lafayette College.

Kathleen Parrish (610) 330-5524, parrishk@lafayette.edu
Brenda Jocsak (610) 330-5121, jocsakb@lafayette.edu
Communications Division
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
www.lafayette.edu