Brain Parasites And Super-Recognisers: The Week ’s Best Psychology Links

Our weekly round-up of the best psychology coverage from elsewhere on the web Researchers from tech company DeepMind have drawn inspiration from their own AI research to develop a new theory of how reinforcement learning works in the brain. Dopamine neurons respond to the difference between a predicted reward and the reward that an animal actually receives: so if the reward is greater than predicted, for instance, more dopamine will be released. But the team found that dopamine neurons in mice don’t all produce the same level of response, reports Donna Lu at New Scientist — instead, they show a distribution of responses, similar to techniques used in machine learning. The parasite Toxoplasma gondii can only reproduce in the digestive tract of cats, so it’s developed an ingenious solution: when it infects the brains of rats and mice, it makes them less scared of felines. But a new study suggests that T. gondii isn’t the “genius” it was previously believed to be. Instead, researchers have found that the parasite causes rodents to lose fear towards predators generally, rather than cats specifically, reports Kelly Servick at Science — though not everyone is convinced by the findings. An increasing body of psychological literature suggests that meditation and mindfulness may boost feelings of empathy and altruism (though it is not without its downsides). If that’s the case, asks Sigal Samuel at Vox, do we all have a moral obligation to start meditating? “Supe...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Weekly links Source Type: blogs