On march 5th, china's new internet, hangzhou, the subject: "the mind-reading technique" in management science
Author, cao dan sun lin ru
Entering the zhejiang university neurological management laboratory, the brain cap, the eye amplifier, the near infrared device, the far infrared imager, the tdcs, the vr system... These devices, which seem to have nothing to do with “management”, are presented as if they were in a science fiction film。
"we have more than a dozen types of research equipment, all of which are used to study why behind human decisions." zhejiang university was introduced by wang lei, special professor and director of the neurology laboratory。
On the eve of international women's day, the author walked into this cross-section of management sciences, cognitive neuroscientifics, computer science and psychological sciences and listened to the story of a woman scientist in the field of deep-tilled research who for more than 20 years had been unlocking the “black box” of human decision-making。
On 2 march, zhejiang university received a special visit from wang lei, a special professor and director of the neurological management laboratory. Sun lin-ru
The story begins with the confusion of more than 20 years ago。
Meanwhile, wang lei, led by zhejiang university professor ma qing qi, conducted research on the subject, and found that there was a great deal of “parallelism” in behavioural research – rational analysis was the way in which decisions should be made, whereas in reality people made different choices and traditional theories were difficult to justify。
“the subject of management studies relates to the person, the system of human composition, and the system resulting from the results of human activity, which, in the final analysis, is always human.” in wang laeten, decision-making behaviour often involves complex cognitive processes, and classic methods such as questionnaires capture superficial behaviour, while it is difficult to explain the underlying dynamics behind behaviour. It was this confusion that prompted her and her team to introduce a psychological and neuroscience perspective and to open a whole new course of research。
In 2006, the zhejiang university neurological management laboratory was inaugurated. The laboratory was the first of its kind at the international level and was the first specialized laboratory in neuro-management。
The core of research is explained by wang's nobel prize laureate in economics, daniel kaniman, thinking, fast and slow: the human brain has two systems of thinking that rely on intuition: the “fast system” and the “low system” that requires careful thought, and the interaction and games that dominate judgement and decision-making. “our mission is to clarify the mechanisms by which two systems of thinking operate.”
How do you crack this mysterious black box of the brain? Wang lai interprets it as an example of an eye-tracking study of the role of social clues in the telecom。
On 2 march, eye aerodynamics in the neuromanagement laboratory of zhejiang university. Sun lin-ru
As far back as 2016, the team noted the emerging consumption scene of the “living of pearls live” and the decision-making pattern of on-line bids raised scientific concerns. The full rise of the live industry in 2020 provided a rich sample of team research。
An eye instrument is used by the team to track the consumer's visual trajectory and to analyze the impact of such factors as anchors, sheep trails (purchases by others), communication texts (interactions) and so on on on purchasing decisions, confirming that these factors have a “dual effect”: they can facilitate consumption and can discourage the willingness to purchase. For example, the accelerator effect of the projectile may facilitate both the listing and overloading of information to interfere with decision-making。
“with the advantage of early start-up and typical scenery, the result was published in 2021 as a high-profile paper that was cited by many researchers in the field of live research.” wang lei said。
Zhejiang university's comprehensive cross-disciplinary advantage also provides rich soil for neuro-management research and extends its tentacles。
"medical artificial intelligence is the hotspot of recent research." according to wang lei, medical ai involves patients, doctors, hospital clients and, from a management point of view, addresses the issues of “use” and “use”。
Its team system analyses the transition from artificial intelligence boycotts to gradual acceptance - patients' concerns about disclosure of privacy, doctor's concerns about career substitution. For the first time, the team looked at the problem of medical artificial intelligence users' resistance from the perspective of both doctors and patients. It developed an integrated theoretical framework encompassing causes, mechanisms, interventions, performances and consequences, and looked forward to the future course of research, the results of which became the same high-profile paper after its publication in 2024。
For more than 20 years, the laboratory, using neuro-management as a framework, set up a multidisciplinary research system covering major public safety decisions, digital consumption, human collaboration, medical health, etc., and was selected in 2023 as the first pilot laboratory for philosophy and social sciences in zhejiang province. On this basis, the team was deeply involved in the construction of the zhejiang university human opportunities and digital innovation laboratory, which was further selected in 2025 as the philosophy and social sciences laboratory of the ministry of education。
On 2 march, team members simulated the hypermarket view using the immersion virtual reality (vr) system. Cho-dan
For the future, its team is exploring “a new paradigm of the brain for managing decision-making” — combining the brain with artificial intelligence — to look at management issues in the form of “brains”, including attention to intelligence bodies and exploration of human intelligence co-management。
As female scientists who have grown up in the scientific and technological background, wang lei has a unique vision of the characteristics of women's research, based on the functional structure of the brain。
“by physical structure, there are differences between men's and women's brains, such as the fact that women are more sensitive to emotional handling and are good at emotional capture and speech.” at the same time, however, she believes that there is no need to make a deliberate distinction between genders in research work and that “the scientific problems faced by researchers are, by their very nature, all the same, except for a slight difference of thought and approach”。
The difference need not be avoided or amplified. As she loved to say, “the heart of the tiger, the smell of the brilliance”. In so doing, wang lei has taken the initiative and sent a message to a large number of women scientists, insisting on their love and bravely moving forward. “for me, bravery is the woman who responds with grace to every challenge on the way to research.” (concluded)
