Antonio Damasio: INET Keynote Address entitled Human Decisions

Antonio Damasio, David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, University of Southern California delivers keynote entiteld Human Decisions at the INET's Paradigm Lost Conference at the Axica in Berlin April 2012. The human brain relies on three devices for its decisions: emotion controls; addictive learning; and intellectual processing. Understanding the conditions under which the three devices are engaged is essential for conscious decision-making. #inetberlin

[@Paykar10]

Did this lecture had to be presented in a such a distracting environment? Damasio deserves better.

[@Dantes38]

Just 11.57 minutes into the video, already a critical look at ratioanlism, illustrations of damage to the frontal lobe of the human brain and what could this possibly have to do with understanding the financial and Eurozone crises. This is set to be a fascinating presentation from an esteemed neuroscientist and in my experience, long overdue.

[@socint74]

He refers to emotion systems operating in a setting of "reward or punishment" sitting at the top of a hierarchy of controls which include drives and motivation. By controls he must means functions which primarily enable us to maintain homeostasis A warning system based on a hierarchy of needs, headed by survival, seems a more appropriate candidate to sit at the head (or be the underpinning) of any evolved control systems to enhance our well being , Emotion is such a specific mechanism.

[@VogonJ]

What I got out of it vs economics is that economics is a reasoned system with a goal that lack (have problems with) addapting emotions to what they are doing in a larger perspective. Planning a society from economics systems is a tragedy of our time.

[@pironautamusical]

Ninguém legenda isto em português??? Uma vez mais a dar mundos ao mundo, uma vez mais a ver a banda passar... Como disse o grande Almada: "A pátria onde Camões morreu de fome e onde todos enchem a barriga de Camões."

[@socint74]

I am neither agreeing nor asserting that any specific hierarchy exists, I claim that survival ,or as you say self preservation together with the maintainance of homeostasis , not reward or punishment , drive motivation and underpin l cognitive activity.

[@kantiannambo]

Am I 24:41?

[@socint74]

If you want to respond to my comments could you do so more specifically rather than commenting vaguely on my use of the term survival as heading the needs of living organisms.

[@sarahmassie7504]

Is the background noise that of the rich stuffing their open mouths whilst their ears are firmly closed.

[@socint74]

Damassio concedes that an understanding of his views on decision -making must take account of the " emotion systems" he tries to describe - as well as our use of emotion words as employed in everyday language. Why then does he not just openly admit the word emotion is misused when describing moods stresses ,re-actions, behaviors and attitudes rather than the cognitive appraisal, arousal, processes and physiological changes induced by an eliciting perception of threat or promise..