29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
We think less than we think, November 29, 2006
This review is from: The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Love (Hardcover)
Did you know that scientist estimate that only 5% of a normal person's actions are decided consciously? The rest are results of automated processes that make up the so called cognitive unconscious. Civilisation advances create an ever increasing repertoire of human actions that are executed automatically as humans move their conscious mind to be preoccupied with more complex operations that require conscious thinking. Why is this observation so important? Because influences on brain unconscious processes can alter our behaviour so much without us knowing it. This is the key issue discussed in this book.
The starting point of the book is that the brain does not function in isolation and that there are many brain processes that take place in the realm of cognitive unconscious. This unconscious is like a back door into our mind that something or someone else can use it to influence us. Richard Restak uses a very scientific approach to introduce the reader in the world of neuroscience using a very user friendly style. While the language is accessible, the argument has scientific quality and he always uses descriptions of scientific experiments conducted elsewhere by well known scientists and research institutions. All the mental processes described in the book are mapped backed to areas in the brain using fMRI technology (functional Magneto Resonance Imaging).
The reading will captivate you and sometimes it will surprise you. You will be astounded when you discover how much of what you thought is YOU as a conscious person is based on simple automated circuitry that can be so easily influenced by external factors. The brain is a neutral powerful computing machine that does not make the difference between right or wrong, or internal or external. Starting from simple experiments about subliminal and supraliminal influence, priming and illusion of truth, the author raises the tempo and talks about mirror neurons, more complex models based on emotion and human interaction to show how easily humans can be influenced - if PEOPLE ALLOW IT. This is the good news: you can take action and protect yourself if you understand the possibilities. In a way, this is the opposite of what professional liars do: they convince themselves that what they say is genuinely meant to protect something or somebody.
Richard Restak talks towards the end of the book about brain processes related to moral judgement. Here the technology stops being useful: the mixture of "rational" and "emotional" thoughts is so complex that fMRI cannot be used to identify exactly the relationship between different brain areas and how exactly the final result (the thought) is calculated. I felt a little bit that this part of the book lack clarity and conviction; it sounded more "ethical" than scientific compared with the rest of the book. This was probably because these particular brain processes are most complex. It is also true that they appeared relatively recently in the human evolution and they cannot be localised clearly in the brain like other primal emotions are.
The very last part of the book discusses how clever marketing campaigners exploit the way the brain works. I found extraordinary the claim that a marketing campaign can actually ALTER the memory. After an ad is run repeatedly in front of your eyes, after a while your memory comes up in a different form. And, you will never know it! I also found amusing that some of the methods used by marketers were applied successfully in the market place long before the scientists created the theory that explains it. But the nastier of all applications are in the field of politics, insurance and employment.
Overall, this is an intriguing little book. It is readable, it is interesting, it is modern, it is rigorous enough to make good demonstrations to support an argument and I think it is useful. You will enjoy reading about G Johansson analysis of perception of motion, or Sally-Ann test or the illusion of truth effect.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Naked Brain: A Summary of Findings in Neuroscience, October 21, 2008
The synopsis of The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Play by Richard Restak leads the reader to believe that the book centers on the ways marketers and politicians utilize the current findings in neuroscience to influence and manipulate society. Contrary to the synopsis, Restak uses three quarters of the book summarize findings in neuroscience using examples written in lay man's terms. Only about a fourth of the book is focused on using neuroscience to effectively market products and ideas to society. The result is a vast overview of neuropsychology, rather than an in depth analysis of neuromarketing.
The book is separated in ten chapters, spanning various topics from "How the Brain Processes Information" to "The Empathic Brain: Blurring the Boundaries Between Self and Others." The beginning of the book is devoted to explaining the physiology and function of the brain, focusing on the frontal lobe. Restak illustrates the function of the frontal lobe by providing a case when "frontal lobe functioning is compromised." He introduces the case of Jonathan Meaden, a business consultant who Restak eventually diagnoses with frontal lobe dementia. Meaden suffered from "generalized indifference..., impaired social judgment, diminished emotional responses, faulty practical judgment, and problems with self control." Restak explains that Meaden suffered from damage to his frontal lobes, introducing physiology and function of the brain to the reader. This becomes the encompassing style of the book; rather than using technical terms, Restak utilizes examples and case studies to demonstrate his point.
A bulk of the book describes how we perceive society, why we perceive it the way we do, and the unconscious decision making. In one example, Restak introduces the Sally-Ann test, "a false belief test [that is used] to evaluate one person's ability to attribute mental states to another person." The test consists of three images; the first shows Sally placing her doll in a carriage, the second shows Ann taking the doll and placing in a box when Sally leaves, and the third shows Sally enters the room. Restak asks the reader, "Where will Sally look to find her doll?" Many would answer that Sally would look in the carriage, the last place she saw the doll. Restak points out that this requires the reader to put themselves in Sally's place, and imagine how they would approach the situation, otherwise known as mentalizing. He explains that this process requires use of the superior temporal sulcus, cingulated cortex, and most importantly, the medial prefrontal cortex, which is used "whenever we direct our attention inward and think about ourselves, or outward and think about others." Restak also mentions that most people mentalize after the age of four, with the exception of those with autism (80% fail the Sally-Ann test).
Another interesting example Restak offers is of Benjamin Libet's observations in 1985. Libet measured EEG signals of patients who were requested to make simple finger movements. He showed that between 500 and 1000 milliseconds before the movement, a scalp-recorded brain readiness potential occurred. Using this case study, Restak argues that "[o]ur brain, it appears knows our decisions before we do." He implies that we seem to make conscience decisions, but in reality we are just a function of neurons firing in the brain. Restak offers other interesting case studies, experiments, and anecdotes; however, he often falls short of fully explaining how marketers can use this information to influence society.
The latter part of the book finally attempts to explain how neuroscience can make an impact on marketing to society. One of the best examples Restak offers to illustrate this is the Pepsi Challenge study. In this study, people had their brains scanned while given a blind taste test between Pepsi and Coca-Cola. More subjects preferred Pepsi, and brain scans showed that there was enhanced activity in the ventral putamen, "a component of the brain's reward system." The test was repeated with the brand of soda known. The subjects overwhelmingly chose Coke as their preferred soda. Brain scans showed that there was an increase of activity of the medial prefrontal cortex, "a key site for executive-style decision making," and in the hippocampus, an area that is related to memory. Restak shows that although people prefer the taste of Pepsi, Coke is consciously preferred because of the type of marketing Coca-Cola employs. Coca-Cola's marketing aims to evoke emotional responses with the brand by reminding consumers of "happy memories" they may have had in the past associated with Coke.
The Naked Brain is easy to read, and incredibly informative. Although Restak offers multiple examples to illustrate his point, the examples become repetitive. In essence, Restak summaries many of the developments in neuroscience and ties it to psychology, without much analysis. When Restak eventually tries to explain neuromarketing, he explains why current marketing techniques work from a neuroscience standpoint, rather than presenting developments in neuroscience than can affect the marketing of products. I highly recommend this book to those who are new to the field of neuroscience and neuropsychology. If you are looking for techniques of neuromarketing, you may want to search for another book.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Review of Recent Findings in Neuroscience, January 26, 2008
Richard Restak has published several books about the functioning of the human brain, all intended for a general audience. In my opinion, this is the best of them, covering a great deal of material in a manner that should be accessible to all.
The focus is on two aspects of the brain in the early twenty-first century: both the most recent research on the brain itself and the effects of new technologies in the areas of both biology and information technology on the brain.
The book covers such areas as the role of both talent and practice in achieving mastery in playing music, the effects of increased bandwidth of information transmission on our ability to pay attention, recent discoveries that the brain is far more plastic (able to "rewire" itself) than had previously been believed, and the ethical questions concerning prescribing psychoactive drugs for patients with no disorder that can be diagnosed.
I also found Dr. Restak's cautious attitude about what we really do know quite appealing.
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