“Use your head.” That’s what we tell ourselves when facing a tricky problem or a difficult project. But a growing body of research indicates that we’ve got it exactly backward. What we need to do, says acclaimed science writer Annie Murphy Paul, is think outside the brain. A host of “extra-neural” resources—the feelings and movements of our bodies, the physical spaces in which we learn and work, and the minds of those around us—can help us focus more intently, comprehend more deeply, and create more imaginatively. In this talk, Paul will explore the research behind this exciting new vision of human ability, exploring the findings of neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and psychologists. 

You’ll learn about the secret history of how artists, scientists, and authors have employed mental extensions to solve problems, make discoveries, and create new works. Additionally, the lecture will explain how you can incorporate outside-the-brain thinking into your everyday life. This presentation offers a dramatic new view of how our minds work, full of practical advice on how to think better.

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Annie Murphy Paul is an acclaimed science writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Scientific American, and The Best American Science Writing, among many other publications. Her latest book is The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain. Published in June of 2021, it was selected as an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Nonfiction, one of “50 Notable Works of Nonfiction” by the Washington Post, and one of “100 Notable Books of 2021” by The New York Times. She is the author of Origins, also named by the New York Times as a “Notable Book,” and The Cult of Personality, hailed by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker as a “fascinating new book.” Her TED Talk has been viewed more than 2.7 million times. Paul is a recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship, the Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship, and the Bernard L. Schwartz Fellowship at New America. A graduate of Yale University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she is currently a Learning Sciences Exchange Fellow at New America.

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