By Ian Wesselhoff 

D r. Ashok Hegde’s TEDx Talk, “How to use your brain’s prediction engine to work smarter,” was highlighted by TED as an “Editor’s Pick,” promoting it on TED’s official website and adding it to a playlist of other Editor’s Picks on the TEDx Talks YouTube channel. 

Of the nearly 300,000 TEDx Talks published, only about 600 – less than 1% – have ever been listed as Editor’s Picks, a distinction for the most important contributions toward TED’s “ideas worth spreading.” 

Hegde, a neuroscientist and the William Harvey Professor of Biomedical Science at GCSU, gave his talk at TEDxGeorgiaCollege last October. He used it to share how people can trick the brain into dopamine boosts – and, consequently, productivity boosts – by setting expectations that are meant to be exceeded. 

As a result of its selection as an editor’s pick, Hegde’s talk has already reached a global audience of thousands, well beyond his own expectations. He says he may have benefited from some prediction error himself. 

“I was actually exhilarated,” Hegde said. “Because I can take that message to a larger audience, that means I can now hopefully use my platform to promote science … I can talk about issues that matter to scientists that actually are relevant to people. It’s not just some esoteric thing you do in the lab.” 

To Dr. Harold Mock, organizer of TEDxGeorgiaCollege and director of Georgia College Leadership Programs, Hegde’s extraordinary talk was a landmark moment for the university’s ongoing mission to promote the breadth and depth of a liberal arts education at GCSU. 

“As we measure the impact of our scholarship, few in our profession will ever have our ideas reach such a broad audience or shape the way the world understands an issue,” Mock said. “Ashok’s accomplishment is a remarkable achievement and marks an important milestone in the life of the university.”

Header Image: Dr. Ashok Hegde delivers his TEDxGeorgiaCollege talk last October. (Photo: Anna Gay Leavitt)