Why do we always reach for the second helping when we know we’re being greedy? Why is it so difficult to stop our sugar habit? How do we decide what to eat and what not to eat, and are we being manipulated? Rich Lopez will be joining us as Brain Buzz kicks off for the 2015/16 season on Friday, September 4, 2015 with a discussion of the latest neuroscience research on how the human brain represents and responds to food rewards, and the ways in which these brain processes impact our everyday lives—from deciding what to buy at the grocery store, to sticking to a diet, to food marketing campaigns geared toward specific populations.

Rich studies self-control (or the lack of it), and is trying to understand how and when people respond compulsively to the cues in our environments that bombard us and vie for our attention (such as digital media), or stomachs (HD food commercials). Over time, Rich hopes to identify brain markers and personality characteristics of self-control capacity, with the hope that this research will ultimately inform work in public health and social policy. He is a doctoral student in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth, and holds a Bachelors degree in psychology from Princeton University.

Graduate students interested in presenting at Brain Buzz are encouraged to contact Amanda Skinner.