Dominique Cain

TED talk analysis activity

Choose any three ted talks dealing with a topic in your field of study (engineering, social science,
etc)
Social and Neuro Science
Talk 1: The Danger
of a Single Story
Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie

How long is introduction?

A few seconds

How detailed is it?

Quick and to the

point

How does the host introduce

himself?

She introduces
herself and her
topic

What background is
provided?

No background;
just her speaking

What initial research was

completed?

How things earn

bias: Stories are
defined by the
people who tell
them, how long
they are told, when
they are told, and
whom they are told
to
The perception of

What supporting stats/graphs

Talk 2: The
Mysterious
Workings of the
Adolescent Brain
Sarah-Jayne
Blakemore
Long; it takes her
about two minutes
before she actually
introduces the topic
of her research
Very; she explains
how the
development of the
brain changes over
time
She doesnt; instead
she immediately
starts talking as the
video starts
Photos and short
sentences
Cognitive
neuroscientist
Sarah-Jane
Blakemore
compares the
prefrontal cortex in
adolescents to that
of adults
Structural and

Talk 3: The Real

Reason for Brains
Daniel Wolpert

Very short

Quick and to the

point

He says his
occupation and
states his topic
Photos,
diaphragms, and
short sentences
Why the brain was
evolved to controls
movement

How animals that

etc

Africa vs. the

reality of Africa

functional MRI
photos

Point one?

The younger you

are the more you
are influenced by
bias perceptions of
society

Why teenagers are

so much more
impulsive and less
self-aware than
adults

What second research?

Western culture vs.

Eastern culture

What supporting
stats/graphs?

The childhood of
those who move
into the west and
those who are born
in the west

How long for point two?

Supporting stats

Short
Personal and
impersonal

How long
Conclusion

Short
If we hear only a
single story about
another person or
country, we risk a
critical
misunderstanding
3

How grey mater

increases during
childhood
A graph of boy and
girls over the span
of 22 years and
how frontal grey
maters volume
peaks around
puberty
About 2 minutes
How we read
others behavior
through sight
About 1 minute
Typical teenage
behavior is cause
by the growing and
developing brain

How many points were

made?
Visuals

None

dont use
movement eat their
brain because they
dont need it any
more
How robots or
robotics without
brains cannot
generalize motion:
For example, one
can built a robot to
pour water, but they
have to build a
different robot to do
a different task
Reverse human
movement
Sensory feedback,
movement
command, and
tasks

About 1:30 minutes

Graphs and 3-D
imaging
About 30 seconds
The brain

Photos, short
sentences,
diagrams, and 3-D

Photos, short
sentences,
diagrams, and 3-D

How long?

The entire video

was 18:49

objects
The entire video
was 14:26

Do you recommend this talk? I recommend each one of these talks

objects
The entire video
was 19:59