In this talk, Dr. Emily Falk will provide an overview of work linking neural responses in small groups of people to individual behavior change and the spread of ideas outside of the lab, as well as population level behaviors that go beyond the individuals whose brains are scanned. She will also describe recent research linking brain activity to behavior outside of the lab that incorporates social network measurements and suggest new questions at the intersection of brains and social networks.

Emily Falk is an Associate Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. Falk employs a variety of methods drawn from communication science, neuroscience and psychology. Her work traverses levels of analysis from individual behavior, to diffusion in group and population level media effects. Prof. Falk's work has been funded by NCI, NICHD, NIDA/the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, ARL, DARPA and ONR. Prior to her doctoral work, Prof. Falk was a Fulbright Fellow in health policy, studying health communication in Canada. She received her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Brown University, and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).