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| Tali Sharot | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tali Sharot |
| Birth place | London, England |
| Occupation | Neuroscientist, Author, Professor |
| Alma mater | University College London, University of Cambridge |
| Employer | University College London, Harvard University |
| Known for | Affective neuroscience, optimism bias, decision-making |
Tali Sharot is a cognitive neuroscientist and professor known for research on affect, decision-making, and the optimism bias. She directs a laboratory that applies tools from neuroscience, psychology, and economics to study how emotions influence beliefs and choices, and she communicates findings to academic and public audiences through books, lectures, and media.
Sharot was born in London and completed undergraduate and graduate studies at University College London and University of Cambridge. Her doctoral work integrated methods from psychology, neuroscience, and economics and involved collaborations with researchers at institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. During her formative training she worked alongside scholars associated with Stanford University, Yale University, and the Max Planck Society.
Sharot established her laboratory at University College London and has held visiting positions at institutions including Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and the Royal Society. She is affiliated with interdisciplinary centers that bridge neuroscience and behavioral economics, collaborating with groups at Columbia University, New York University, and the Wellcome Trust. Her career includes peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Nature, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and contributions to edited volumes from presses associated with Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.
Sharot’s research illuminated the neural basis of the optimism bias, showing how brain regions including the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and the striatum encode expectation and valuation. She used neuroimaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging in studies that integrated paradigms from decision theory, prospect theory, and experimental paradigms employed by scholars at Columbia Business School and the London School of Economics. Her lab developed paradigms to probe how affective forecasting and belief updating differ when information is framed by figures such as Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, and Richard Thaler. Sharot proposed mechanisms by which social influences and anticipatory emotion—concepts explored alongside work from Antonio Damasio, Joseph LeDoux, and Susan Fiske—shape memory consolidation and future-oriented cognition. She has examined applications of these mechanisms in contexts studied by researchers at RAND Corporation, Brookings Institution, and NATO policy forums, including risk perception during public crises investigated by teams at Johns Hopkins University and Imperial College London.
Sharot authored accessible syntheses on optimism and decision-making, contributing to public discourse alongside writers and commentators affiliated with The New York Times, The Guardian, and BBC News. Her books engage with themes discussed by authors such as Steven Pinker, Daniel Kahneman, Michael Lewis, and Yuval Noah Harari and have been featured in venues including the World Economic Forum, Ted, and the Royal Institution. She has served as a consultant to organizations such as Google, Facebook, and policy groups at European Commission and United Nations forums, translating laboratory insights into applications for leaders in finance, healthcare, and public policy.
Sharot’s work has been recognized by awards and fellowships from organizations like the Royal Society and funding from agencies including the Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the European Research Council. She has received prizes and invited lectureships at venues such as University of Oxford, Princeton University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her research has been cited in reports by World Health Organization, World Bank, and think tanks including Chatham House.
Sharot has participated in media programs on BBC Radio 4, NPR, and CNN and appeared in documentary series produced by outlets like PBS and Channel 4. She has lectured at public festivals including Hay Festival and engaged in panel discussions with figures from politics and business sectors; collaborators and interlocutors have included academics from Harvard Kennedy School, journalists from The Economist, and advisors linked to European Commission initiatives.
Category:Neuroscientists Category:British academics