Watch TV series episode after episode or go for a walk in the forest? Eat a cheeseburger or cabbage salad? What should you choose?
Research carried out by scientists has shown that the brain can be programmed to choose more useful options without outside input. Also, these discoveries can help fight anxiety, depression and addictions.
The experiment was carried out on macaques using a special device that picks up brain signals. The monkeys were given 4 different photographs, each of which was selected to produce a different amount of juice. Scientists monitored the reaction of the animal's brain when it looked at the picture.
Then the number of photographs was reduced to two. The radius of brain signals also narrowed, and scientists, as a result, could predict which of the photographs the monkey would choose, based on how long it was looking at it.
The more the animal had to think about which option to choose, the more signals its brain emitted. The challenge for scientists now is to understand how exactly the brain signal can be reconfigured so that it always chooses the option that would be most beneficial to the body.
Semenenko Kirill