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When they inactivated one specific region, the monkeys stopped making risky choices. No other areas had a similar effect, even areas that have been shown to play a role in monkey decision-making. The region researchers identified is part of the Brodmann area in the monkey frontal lobe, which has dozens of smaller parts that are associated with all sorts of brain activities including speech, hearing, and movement. Specifically, it was Brodmann area 6, which is involved in planning complex and coordinated movement. In people, the frontal lobe is involved in personality, planning, organizing, and goal-oriented behavior.

So far as I know, an author known as Z Man at an independent blog called Z Media coined the term “The Compound Eye” in a post of the same name. In his lexicon, the compound eye is a metaphor for the millions of surveillance cameras and other intrusive devices Big Tech and their cohorts have dreamed up to keep us all in line. And the metaphor is a good one at that. If we are going to resist these intrusions and regain some measure of privacy, we are on our own. Looking to Big Tech and our government to...

People walk past the building that houses the offices of Cambridge Analytica in central London, March 20, 2018. Share WASHINGTON — Long before its controversial roles in the 2016 Brexit vote and U.S. presidential election, Cambridge Analytica influenced elections in Africa. The data mining company, under fire for its alleged use of 50 million Facebook accounts to shape campaign messages for then-candidate Donald Trump, also played a role in elections in Kenya and Nigeria, according to new reports. The company's first involvement in Africa dates to the general election in South Africa in 1994. That election marked the end of...

March 2, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- Population controllers told the Vatican at a conference this week that the Catholic teaching of “responsible parenthood” in determining family size has “result[ed] in collective failure” in reducing the world’s population. They suggested that the only way to stop the exhaustion of “humanity’s natural capital” is by imposing a system of “taxes and regulations” that would help modify “social norms of behaviour.” This week’s Vatican symposium on Biological Extinction, sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences was a closed-door event. Speaking at the event were two controversial figures,...

Maya Shankar, a White House adviser cultivating a team tasked with subtly influencing Americans’ behavior, previously worked closely with the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, WND has learned. Shankar has discussed utilizing cognitive science for social activism and is a champion of so-called social justice.

Mara ShankarYalie20-something The New Boss of Everything Maya Shankar is a senior policy advisor at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. Her mandate is to supervise the organization of a federal government 'nudge squad' that will subtly change the behaviors of bureaucrats -- and the rest of us. When does a nudge become a shove? Americans may find out, as the federal government is setting up a 'behavioral insights team' to tinker with the way we accomplish everything from saving money and staying in school to losing weight and becoming more energy-efficient. The Obama administration's grand plans...

According to Fox News, the Obama administration is building a team of experts in psychology to come up with ways to subtly persuade Americans to change their behavior in ways the government approves of – kind of like lab rats, Pavlov’s dogs or teachers unions. The “Behavior Insights Team” team is only in its formative stages, but its goals are all ambitious, according to a recruiting letter Fox said it obtained from a university professor who was identified for membership: “Behavioral sciences can be used to help design public policies that work better, cost less, and help people to achieve...

The federal government is hiring what it calls a "Behavioral Insights Team" that will look for ways to subtly influence people's behavior, according to a document describing the program obtained by FoxNews.com. Critics warn there could be unintended consequences to such policies, while supporters say the team could make government and society more efficient. While the program is still in its early stages, the document shows the White House is already working on such projects with almost a dozen federal departments and agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture. "Behavioral sciences can be...

The U.S. government is looking to recruit members for what some are calling a “Behavioral Insights Team,” a panel of experts that will study human behavior so as to “design public policies that work better, cost less, and help people to achieve their goals,” according to a document describing the program...

More than 35 percent of U.S. adults and 17 percent of children and teens now have a disease, after the American Medical Association formally voted Tuesday to classify “obesity as a disease requiring a range of medical interventions.” The shift is aimed in part to get doctors to tackle obesity as if they were treating a disease instead of a lifestyle condition in need of modification. “Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans,” Dr. Patrice Harris of the AMA said in a statement....

Behavioral Experiment Transparency vs Burden Solicitation Number: TIRNO-11-Q-00349 Agency: Department of the Treasury Office: Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Location: National Office Procurement (OS:A:P) Solicitation Number: TIRNO-11-Q-00349 Notice Type: Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Synopsis: Added: Sep 16, 2011 11:03 am The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) intends to issue a sole sourced purchase order to the University of Minnesota's Social Behavior Science Division Research Professors: Marsha Blumenthal and Laura Kalambolidis, for research experiments, data to explore the impacts of Behavioral experiments of alternative reporting regimes: transparency vs. burden. BACKGROUND: The project involves a three-stage laboratory experiment to explore taxpayers' willingness to accept increased reporting...

An Army lieutenant colonel has asked to be relieved of command rather than order his troops to go through pro-homosexual indoctrination following the repeal of the policy, which required homosexuals to keep silent about their sexual preference. Currently the commander of a battalion-sized unit in the Army National Guard, the officer also has threatened to resign his commission rather than undergo "behavior modification" training intended to counter his religious convictions about homosexuality.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is fond of saying, "You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” Well, the Obama Administration certainly has not let the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil rig crisis go to waste, using it as a smokescreen to silently assault and further diminish American citizens' personal freedom. While the nation has its eyes and ears focused on the BP spill blame game ping-pong match between President Obama and BP top brass, President Obama on Thursday, June 10, quietly announced...