WEBVTT 00:00:00.833 --> 00:00:04.710 I'm a neuroscientist, and I study decision-making. 00:00:04.710 --> 00:00:07.017 I do experiments to test how different chemicals 00:00:07.017 --> 00:00:10.617 in the brain influence the choices we make. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:10.617 --> 00:00:17.365 I'm here to tell you the secret to successful decision-making: 00:00:17.365 --> 00:00:19.603 a cheese sandwich. 00:00:19.603 --> 00:00:23.263 That's right. According to scientists, a cheese sandwich 00:00:23.263 --> 00:00:26.885 is the solution to all your tough decisions. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:26.885 --> 00:00:31.942 How do I know? I'm the scientist who did the study. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:31.942 --> 00:00:34.242 A few years ago, my colleagues and I were interested 00:00:34.242 --> 00:00:36.535 in how a brain chemical called serotonin 00:00:36.535 --> 00:00:39.805 would influence people's decisions in social situations. 00:00:39.805 --> 00:00:42.900 Specifically, we wanted to know how serotonin would affect 00:00:42.900 --> 00:00:46.715 the way people react when they're treated unfairly. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:46.715 --> 00:00:48.253 So we did an experiment. 00:00:48.253 --> 00:00:51.399 We manipulated people's serotonin levels by giving them 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:56.022 this really disgusting-tasting artificial lemon-flavored drink 00:00:56.022 --> 00:00:59.654 that works by taking away the raw ingredient for serotonin 00:00:59.654 --> 00:01:00.832 in the brain. 00:01:00.832 --> 00:01:03.809 This is the amino acid tryptophan. 00:01:03.809 --> 00:01:06.170 So what we found was, when tryptophan was low, 00:01:06.170 --> 00:01:08.622 people were more likely to take revenge 00:01:08.622 --> 00:01:12.170 when they're treated unfairly. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:12.170 --> 00:01:15.993 That's the study we did, and here are some of the headlines 00:01:15.993 --> 00:01:18.722 that came out afterwards. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:18.722 --> 00:01:21.217 ("A cheese sandwich is all you need for strong decision-making") NOTE Paragraph 00:01:21.217 --> 00:01:23.312 ("What a friend we have in cheeses") NOTE Paragraph 00:01:23.312 --> 00:01:26.512 ("Eating Cheese and Meat May Boost Self-Control") At this point, you might be wondering, did I miss something? NOTE Paragraph 00:01:26.512 --> 00:01:31.907 ("Official! Chocolate stops you being grumpy") Cheese? Chocolate? Where did that come from? 00:01:31.907 --> 00:01:34.040 And I thought the same thing myself when these came out, 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:38.285 because our study had nothing to do with cheese or chocolate. 00:01:38.285 --> 00:01:40.614 We gave people this horrible-tasting drink 00:01:40.614 --> 00:01:43.816 that affected their tryptophan levels. 00:01:43.816 --> 00:01:47.497 But it turns out that tryptophan also happens to be found 00:01:47.497 --> 00:01:50.298 in cheese and chocolate. 00:01:50.298 --> 00:01:52.608 And of course when science says cheese and chocolate 00:01:52.608 --> 00:01:56.689 help you make better decisions, well, that's sure to grab people's attention. 00:01:56.689 --> 00:01:58.656 So there you have it: 00:01:58.656 --> 00:02:02.163 the evolution of a headline. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:02.163 --> 00:02:04.505 When this happened, a part of me thought, well, 00:02:04.505 --> 00:02:06.509 what's the big deal? 00:02:06.509 --> 00:02:10.388 So the media oversimplified a few things, but in the end, 00:02:10.388 --> 00:02:12.464 it's just a news story. 00:02:12.464 --> 00:02:15.817 And I think a lot of scientists have this attitude. 00:02:15.817 --> 00:02:19.714 But the problem is that this kind of thing happens all the time, 00:02:19.714 --> 00:02:22.841 and it affects not just the stories you read in the news 00:02:22.841 --> 00:02:25.620 but also the products you see on the shelves. 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:28.287 When the headlines rolled, what happened was, 00:02:28.287 --> 00:02:31.113 the marketers came calling. 00:02:31.113 --> 00:02:34.332 Would I be willing to provide a scientific endorsement 00:02:34.332 --> 00:02:37.593 of a mood-boosting bottled water? 00:02:37.593 --> 00:02:39.737 Or would I go on television to demonstrate, 00:02:39.737 --> 00:02:40.762 in front of a live audience, 00:02:40.762 --> 00:02:44.361 that comfort foods really do make you feel better? 00:02:44.361 --> 00:02:48.322 I think these folks meant well, but had I taken them up on their offers, 00:02:48.322 --> 00:02:50.696 I would have been going beyond the science, 00:02:50.696 --> 00:02:53.953 and good scientists are careful not to do this. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:53.953 --> 00:02:58.321 But nevertheless, neuroscience is turning up more and more in marketing. 00:02:58.321 --> 00:03:00.881 Here's one example: Neuro drinks, 00:03:00.881 --> 00:03:04.122 a line of products, including Nuero Bliss here, 00:03:04.122 --> 00:03:07.023 which according to its label helps reduce stress, 00:03:07.023 --> 00:03:10.449 enhances mood, provides focused concentration, 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:13.137 and promotes a positive outlook. 00:03:13.137 --> 00:03:17.762 I have to say, this sounds awesome. (Laughter) 00:03:17.762 --> 00:03:21.638 I could totally have used this 10 minutes ago. 00:03:21.638 --> 00:03:25.068 So when this came up in my local shop, naturally I was 00:03:25.068 --> 00:03:28.617 curious about some of the research backing these claims. 00:03:28.617 --> 00:03:31.543 So I went to the company's website looking to find 00:03:31.543 --> 00:03:34.969 some controlled trials of their products. 00:03:34.969 --> 00:03:36.646 But I didn't find any. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:36.646 --> 00:03:40.384 Trial or no trial, these claims are front and center 00:03:40.384 --> 00:03:44.346 on their label right next to a picture of a brain. 00:03:44.346 --> 00:03:50.049 And it turns out that pictures of brains have special properties. 00:03:50.049 --> 00:03:52.511 A couple of researchers asked a few hundred people 00:03:52.511 --> 00:03:55.202 to read a scientific article. 00:03:55.202 --> 00:03:58.529 For half the people, the article included a brain image, 00:03:58.529 --> 00:04:00.392 and for the other half, it was the same article 00:04:00.392 --> 00:04:03.096 but it didn't have a brain image. 00:04:03.096 --> 00:04:04.728 At the end — you see where this is going — 00:04:04.728 --> 00:04:06.838 people were asked whether they agreed 00:04:06.838 --> 00:04:10.160 with the conclusions of the article. 00:04:10.160 --> 00:04:12.433 So this is how much people agree with the conclusions 00:04:12.433 --> 00:04:14.346 with no image. 00:04:14.346 --> 00:04:17.993 And this is how much they agree with the same article 00:04:17.993 --> 00:04:20.760 that did include a brain image. 00:04:20.760 --> 00:04:22.709 So the take-home message here is, 00:04:22.709 --> 00:04:27.616 do you want to sell it? Put a brain on it. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:27.616 --> 00:04:29.729 Now let me pause here and take a moment to say that 00:04:29.729 --> 00:04:33.427 neuroscience has advanced a lot in the last few decades, 00:04:33.427 --> 00:04:35.880 and we're constantly discovering amazing things 00:04:35.880 --> 00:04:37.153 about the brain. 00:04:37.153 --> 00:04:40.297 Like, just a couple of weeks ago, neuroscientists at MIT 00:04:40.297 --> 00:04:43.097 figured out how to break habits in rats 00:04:43.097 --> 00:04:47.090 just by controlling neural activity in a specific part of their brain. 00:04:47.090 --> 00:04:48.680 Really cool stuff. 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.973 But the promise of neuroscience has led to some really 00:04:51.973 --> 00:04:57.209 high expectations and some overblown, unproven claims. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:57.209 --> 00:05:00.248 So what I'm going to do is show you how to spot 00:05:00.248 --> 00:05:03.794 a couple of classic moves, dead giveaways, really, 00:05:03.794 --> 00:05:06.590 for what's variously been called neuro-bunk, 00:05:06.590 --> 00:05:12.282 neuro-bollocks, or, my personal favorite, neuro-flapdoodle. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:12.282 --> 00:05:16.620 So the first unproven claim is that you can use brain scans 00:05:16.620 --> 00:05:20.532 to read people's thoughts and emotions. 00:05:20.532 --> 00:05:23.579 Here's a study published by a team of researchers 00:05:23.579 --> 00:05:26.412 as an op-ed in The New York Times. 00:05:26.412 --> 00:05:30.657 The headline? "You Love Your iPhone. Literally." 00:05:30.657 --> 00:05:35.107 It quickly became the most emailed article on the site. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:35.107 --> 00:05:37.276 So how'd they figure this out? 00:05:37.276 --> 00:05:40.304 They put 16 people inside a brain scanner 00:05:40.304 --> 00:05:43.586 and showed them videos of ringing iPhones. 00:05:43.586 --> 00:05:47.048 The brain scans showed activation in a part of the brain 00:05:47.048 --> 00:05:49.700 called the insula, a region they say 00:05:49.700 --> 00:05:53.484 is linked to feelings of love and compassion. 00:05:53.484 --> 00:05:57.144 So they concluded that because they saw activation in the insula, 00:05:57.144 --> 00:06:01.431 this meant the subjects loved their iPhones. 00:06:01.431 --> 00:06:03.575 Now there's just one problem with this line of reasoning, 00:06:03.575 --> 00:06:07.091 and that's that the insula does a lot. 00:06:07.091 --> 00:06:09.396 Sure, it is involved in positive emotions 00:06:09.396 --> 00:06:11.738 like love and compassion, 00:06:11.738 --> 00:06:14.411 but it's also involved in tons of other processes, 00:06:14.411 --> 00:06:17.484 like memory, language, attention, 00:06:17.484 --> 00:06:21.520 even anger, disgust and pain. 00:06:21.520 --> 00:06:25.983 So based on the same logic, I could equally conclude 00:06:25.983 --> 00:06:28.436 you hate your iPhone. 00:06:28.436 --> 00:06:31.280 The point here is, when you see activation in the insula, 00:06:31.280 --> 00:06:34.306 you can't just pick and choose your favorite explanation 00:06:34.306 --> 00:06:38.972 from off this list, and it's a really long list. 00:06:38.972 --> 00:06:41.306 My colleagues Tal Yarkoni and Russ Poldrack 00:06:41.306 --> 00:06:44.428 have shown that the insula pops up in almost a third 00:06:44.428 --> 00:06:49.164 of all brain imaging studies that have ever been published. 00:06:49.164 --> 00:06:50.678 So chances are really, really good 00:06:50.678 --> 00:06:53.804 that your insula is going off right now, 00:06:53.804 --> 00:06:55.426 but I won't kid myself 00:06:55.426 --> 00:06:59.103 to think this means you love me. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:59.103 --> 00:07:02.010 So speaking of love and the brain, 00:07:02.010 --> 00:07:05.875 there's a researcher, known to some as Dr. Love, 00:07:05.875 --> 00:07:09.360 who claims that scientists have found the glue 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:12.007 that holds society together, 00:07:12.007 --> 00:07:15.783 the source of love and prosperity. 00:07:15.783 --> 00:07:17.972 This time it's not a cheese sandwich. 00:07:17.972 --> 00:07:21.829 No, it's a hormone called oxytocin. 00:07:21.829 --> 00:07:23.696 You've probably heard of it. 00:07:23.696 --> 00:07:26.588 So, Dr. Love bases his argument on studies showing 00:07:26.588 --> 00:07:29.533 that when you boost people's oxytocin, 00:07:29.533 --> 00:07:33.706 this increases their trust, empathy and cooperation. 00:07:33.706 --> 00:07:37.786 So he's calling oxytocin "the moral molecule." NOTE Paragraph 00:07:37.786 --> 00:07:40.628 Now these studies are scientifically valid, 00:07:40.628 --> 00:07:44.764 and they've been replicated, but they're not the whole story. 00:07:44.764 --> 00:07:47.477 Other studies have shown that boosting oxytocin 00:07:47.477 --> 00:07:52.220 increases envy. It increases gloating. 00:07:52.220 --> 00:07:55.536 Oxytocin can bias people to favor their own group 00:07:55.536 --> 00:07:58.628 at the expense of other groups. 00:07:58.628 --> 00:08:02.880 And in some cases, oxytocin can even decrease cooperation. 00:08:02.880 --> 00:08:06.700 So based on these studies, I could say oxytocin 00:08:06.700 --> 00:08:11.451 is an immoral molecule, and call myself Dr. Strangelove. 00:08:11.451 --> 00:08:14.811 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:14.811 --> 00:08:18.921 So we've seen neuro-flapdoodle all over the headlines. 00:08:18.921 --> 00:08:21.699 We see it in supermarkets, on book covers. 00:08:21.699 --> 00:08:24.370 What about the clinic? NOTE Paragraph 00:08:24.370 --> 00:08:27.785 SPECT imaging is a brain-scanning technology 00:08:27.785 --> 00:08:29.854 that uses a radioactive tracer 00:08:29.854 --> 00:08:32.894 to track blood flow in the brain. 00:08:32.894 --> 00:08:35.978 For the bargain price of a few thousand dollars, 00:08:35.978 --> 00:08:40.096 there are clinics in the U.S. that will give you 00:08:40.096 --> 00:08:43.549 one of these SPECT scans and use the image 00:08:43.549 --> 00:08:46.186 to help diagnose your problems. 00:08:46.186 --> 00:08:48.715 These scans, the clinics say, can help 00:08:48.715 --> 00:08:51.617 prevent Alzheimer's disease, 00:08:51.617 --> 00:08:54.081 solve weight and addiction issues, 00:08:54.081 --> 00:08:56.753 overcome marital conflicts, 00:08:56.753 --> 00:08:59.903 and treat, of course, a variety of mental illnesses 00:08:59.903 --> 00:09:03.482 ranging from depression to anxiety to ADHD. 00:09:03.482 --> 00:09:06.052 This sounds great. A lot of people agree. 00:09:06.052 --> 00:09:08.218 Some of these clinics are pulling in tens of millions 00:09:08.218 --> 00:09:11.522 of dollars a year in business. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:11.522 --> 00:09:13.606 There's just one problem. 00:09:13.606 --> 00:09:16.283 The broad consensus in neuroscience 00:09:16.283 --> 00:09:19.468 is that we can't yet diagnose mental illness 00:09:19.468 --> 00:09:22.251 from a single brain scan. 00:09:22.251 --> 00:09:24.482 But these clinics have treated 00:09:24.482 --> 00:09:26.922 tens of thousands of patients to date, 00:09:26.922 --> 00:09:28.684 many of them children, 00:09:28.684 --> 00:09:32.162 and SPECT imaging involves a radioactive injection, 00:09:32.162 --> 00:09:38.159 so exposing people to radiation, potentially harmful. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:41.273 I am more excited than most people, as a neuroscientist, 00:09:41.273 --> 00:09:45.554 about the potential for neuroscience to treat mental illness 00:09:45.554 --> 00:09:50.278 and even maybe to make us better and smarter. 00:09:50.278 --> 00:09:52.978 And if one day we can say that cheese and chocolate 00:09:52.978 --> 00:09:57.282 help us make better decisions, count me in. 00:09:57.282 --> 00:09:59.858 But we're not there yet. 00:09:59.858 --> 00:10:03.593 We haven't found a "buy" button inside the brain, 00:10:03.593 --> 00:10:07.291 we can't tell whether someone is lying or in love 00:10:07.291 --> 00:10:10.674 just by looking at their brain scans, 00:10:10.674 --> 00:10:14.938 and we can't turn sinners into saints with hormones. 00:10:14.938 --> 00:10:17.142 Maybe someday we will, but until then, 00:10:17.142 --> 00:10:19.985 we have to be careful that we don't let overblown claims 00:10:19.985 --> 00:10:23.371 detract resources and attention away from the real science 00:10:23.371 --> 00:10:27.130 that's playing a much longer game. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:27.130 --> 00:10:29.568 So here's where you come in. 00:10:29.568 --> 00:10:32.739 If someone tries to sell you something with a brain on it, 00:10:32.739 --> 00:10:35.618 don't just take them at their word. 00:10:35.618 --> 00:10:38.864 Ask the tough questions. Ask to see the evidence. 00:10:38.864 --> 00:10:42.762 Ask for the part of the story that's not being told. 00:10:42.762 --> 00:10:47.850 The answers shouldn't be simple, because the brain isn't simple. 00:10:47.850 --> 00:10:52.345 But that's not stopping us from trying to figure it out anyway. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:52.345 --> 00:10:56.345 Thank you. (Applause)