Discovery Highlights

Working with subjects as disparate as physicians, art experts, Buddhist meditators, and children with autism, scientists at the Computational Psychiatry Unit are making numerous discoveries about human decision-making and cognition. Among their recent findings:
 

Physicians Learn More by Paying Attention to Failure

Doctors can make better treatment decisions when they learn from their mistakes—and the more experienced they are, the slower they are to learn.

 

Dopamine Release in the Brain Can Reveal Decision-Making

Functional magnetic resonance imaging can successfully track the movement of dopamine between brain cells while a subject expresses decision-making behavior.

 

Expertise Provides a Buffer Against Bias in Making Judgments

Monetary favors can influence people’s assessments of artworks, but not if the viewer is an art expert.

 

Mindfulness Meditation Can Change the Decision-Making Process

Buddhist meditators use different areas of the brain than other people when confronted with unfair choices, enabling them to make decisions rationally rather than emotionally.