Neuroscientist David Eagleman discussed the brain’s power to influence behavior as this year’s Wellness Week keynote speaker at All-School Meeting on Wednesday, October 19.
Eagleman explained the unconscious decisions that cause people to make certain choices.
“We are the only species that has grown so sophisticated that we can throw ourselves headlong into this game of deciphering our own programming language,” said Eagleman.
According to Eagleman, there are more connections between cells in the human brain than there are between electric wires and circuits in even the most advanced technologies.
Eagleman continued, “The important thing about neuroscience is not the billion and one details about the brain anatomy, but rather how it pertains to people and what it tells us about our own lives.”
Eagleman shocked the audience in his discussion of the unconscious brain by proving that individuals arre not always of what drives their actions.
“Your conscious mind is the smallest part of what is happening in your brain. The analogy that I use in my book is your conscious mind is like a stowaway on a transatlantic steamship that takes credit for the journey but does not acknowledge all the engineering going on below it. You depend on all those massive operations under the hood, even though you may not realize it,” said Eagleman.
In one of his studies, Eagleman presented two portraits of the same woman to a group of men and asked them to choose the more attractive woman. The woman the men chose as more attractive had dilated eyes. Eagleman said that subconsciously men are attracted to women with larger pupils because dilated eyes suggest a woman’s readiness for sex.
“This means that there is a large gap between what your brain is doing and what your conscious mind has access to. Essentially, the conscious mind is meant to be like a newspaper that gives you a headline,” he said.
Eagleman also said that some people feel “dethroned” when they learn that the conscious mind isn’t really at the center of the brain.
Eagleman compared this feeling to Galileo’s discovery that the earth was not the center of the universe. He said, “The brain, just like the universe, is vast, wondrous, and incredible.”
When an individual tries to think consciously about an unconscious action, it becomes more difficult, he added.
He presented the example of a tennis player who has an exceptional serve but does not think about it while playing the sport. However, if the opponent asks how they execute the serve, the player’s conscious mind may inhibit his or her ability to play well.
“What this all means is that your cognition is essentially running incognito,” said Eagleman.
Eagleman explained the Ulysses contract, a commitment where an individual makes a deal with his or her future self to control his or her behavior.
“This is what you actually need, and this is the reason why New Year’s resolutions always fail. You need someway of binding yourself to the desired behavior,” he said.
Wednesday’s presentation was Eagleman’s first experience speaking at a high school.
“It was a terrific experience because one of my favorite things in the world is turning people on to new ideas,” said Eagleman.
Eagleman first became interested in the brain while studying at Rice University. He attended graduate school at Baylor College of Medicine, where he began working for his Ph.D. in neuroscience.
Eagleman now conducts his research in a laboratory at the Baylor College of Medicine and teaches neuroscience classes at Rice University.
