Martin Korte

We all tend to make stupid decisions. Sometimes we oversimplify the world, but complicate it in many places at the same time. These bad decisions do not come about by chance, but rather result from certain tendencies in perception, memory, thinking and judgment. Catastrophic thinking, selective perception, black-and-white thinking, overgeneralization – a whole range of thought patterns ensure that we repeatedly act incorrectly in everyday life. Neurobiologist Martin Korte sheds light on these thinking mechanisms in our brains and shows how they can influence and sometimes distort our decisions. He provides insights into the latest findings in neurobiology and explains how we can use this knowledge to improve our decisions.

Martin Korte is Professor of Cellular Neurobiology and Director of the Zoological Institute at the TU Braunschweig. His research focuses on the cellular basis of learning and memory as well as the processes of forgetting. In addition to his work as a scientist, he regularly gives public lectures for students and politicians.