Charles and Thomas Lauritsen Memorial Lecture: "The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload"

Americans were bombarded with five times more data last year than in 1986. We've created more content in the last 10 years than in all of previous human history. How can we cope with this deluge of information?

Drawing on research in the neuroscience of attention and memory as well, as discussions with successful people ranging from high-tech CEOs to Nobel Prize winners, Daniel Levitin will illustrate how the latest findings from brain science can help make us more productive and efficient while finding more time for creativity and spontaneity in our daily lives.

Dr. Daniel J. Levitin is the author of the No. 1 best seller This Is Your Brain on Music (Dutton/Penguin, 2006), which was published in 19 languages and spent more than one year on The New York Times Best Sellers list. His second book, The World in Six Songs (Dutton/Penguin, 2008), hit the best seller lists in its first week of release. His newest book is the No. 1 best-seller The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload (Dutton/Penguin 2014).

Levitin is a James McGill Professor of Psychology, Behavioural Neuroscience, and Music at McGill University, and dean of arts and humanities at the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute. He previously served on the faculty of Stanford University, where he taught in the Program in Human-Computer Interaction and the departments of Computer Science, Psychology, Anthropology, Computer Music, and History of Science.

He has consulted on sound source separation  for the U.S. Navy and on audio quality for several record labels and rock bands, including the Grateful Dead and Steely Dan. He also served as an expert listener in the original Dolby AC3 compression tests. He worked for two years at the Silicon Valley think tank Interval Research Corporation.

After receiving a BA in cognitive psychology and cognitive science at Stanford University, Levitin went on to earn his PhD in psychology from the University of Oregon, researching complex auditory patterns and pattern processing in expert and non-expert populations. He completed postdoctoral training in neuroimaging at Stanford University Medical School and in cognitive psychology at UC Berkeley.

This is a free event; no tickets or reservations are required.

The Lauritsen Memorial Lecture commemorates two former professors of physics at Caltech: Charles C. Lauritsen and Thomas Lauritsen. Together they served the Institute for more than 68 years, and their commitment to excellence played a significant role in Caltech's development and accomplishments.