The Neuroscience of Habits and Decision Making
Much of what we do each day doesn’t come from conscious choice. We follow routines, repeat behaviours, and make decisions on autopilot, often without realising when or how the decision was made.
In this Growth Lab Live workshop, we explore how the brain generates behaviour and why some actions feel intentional while others happen automatically. Drawing on recent scientific findings, the session breaks down the different learning systems in the brain that drive planning, skill acquisition, and habit formation, each operating under its own rules.
We’ll examine why habits are so persistent, why willpower often fails, and how behavioural patterns become reinforced over time. The talk also looks at what happens when these systems compete, and how this tension shapes everyday choices, from simple routines to high-stakes decisions.
By understanding how these decision-making processes work, we can begin to design environments, cues, and habits that work with the brain’s natural learning mechanisms rather than against them. The result is greater clarity, better decisions, and more control over the patterns that quietly shape our lives.
About the speaker:
Hernando Martinez is a neuroscientist whose work focuses on how the brain learns, forms habits, and turns experience into behaviour. With a background spanning biotechnology, bioinformatics, and cell and developmental biology, they bring a rare, systems-level perspective to understanding how decisions emerge from neural circuits.
They completed their PhD at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), where they studied the evolution of the nervous system and helped build large-scale maps of gene expression and brain connectivity. This was followed by postdoctoral research at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre in London, investigating how dopamine and striatal circuits shape learning and behaviour.
Since 2024, they have been a Ramón y Cajal Fellow in the Brain Circuits and Behaviour Laboratory, where their research explores the neural computations that drive learned behaviours. Using behavioural experiments, targeted neural interventions in animal models, and mathematical modelling, they aim to uncover the mechanisms that determine why we repeat certain actions, form habits, and make decisions automatically.
Agenda:
Doors open: 7.15pm
Workshop starts: 7.30pm
Q&A session: 8.30pm
Drinks & Networking on the terrace: 9.00pm
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