New Study IDs Brain Cells That Help Us Learn by Watching Others
By PSYCH CENTRAL, November 8, 2016
This post has been viewed 2,567 times.
This post has been viewed 2,567 times.
From infancy, we learn by watching other people, and new research has pinpointed the individual neurons that support this observational learning. In the study, each person took turns choosing cards on his or her own and then watched two other players draw cards from the same decks. By learning from the results of their own and the other players’ choices, the participants quickly zeroed in on the deck containing better cards. The research team was surprised to discover that individual neurons deep in the frontal lobe reacted as the patient considered whether they or their opponents would pick a winning card. Called the anterior cingulate cortex, the region plays an important role in high-level functions like decision-making, reward anticipation, social interaction and emotion, the researchers explained. According to the researchers, the findings will help scientists better understand the organization of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex and exactly what they do. The researchers noted that the cells in the same region fired vigorously each time a person won or the other players lost, and decreased their activity whenever the person lost or the other players won.(October 2, 2016).tinyurl.com/h8o5v42
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