Whether the decision is to have unprotected sex, save or spend, consent to surgery, or have an extra helping of dessert, risky decisions permeate our lives, sometimes with disastrous consequences. How and why risk taking occurs has important implications, yet we have many unanswered questions about what influences risky behavior. The new book The Neuroscience of Risky Decision Making (American Psychological Association, Jan. 2014) aims to help us understand the neural roots of bad decisions and paves the way for translation of science into practice and policy.

Join us for a Chats in the Stacks book talk with Dr. Valerie F. Reyna, professor of human development, director of the Human Neuroscience Institute in the College of Human Ecology and co-director of the Cornell MRI Facility. She is a developer of fuzzy trace theory, a model of memory, decision making, and development that is widely applied in law, medicine, and public health. The book, edited by Reyna and Vivian Zayas, associate professor of psychology at Cornell, will transform the next phase of research in the field and inform policy and practice innovations that can save lives and improve health.

Light refreshments will be available throughout the event, and books will be available for purchase and signing.