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Wednesday, 30 May 2018 11:25

The brain helps you to make the wise choice

Postdoctoral Researcher David Meder has been part of the group investigating what happens in the brain when we make decisions.

 

In the local paper, Lokalavisen Hvidovre Avis, David Meder has been interviewed about one of the many projects taking place at DRCMR.

You can read the article (in Danish) by using this link.

In a brief summary, David Meder presents examples of situations when our brain helps us make 'the wise decision', e.g.:

"It's Monday morning and still dark outside. You need to park your bike by the train station in order for you to get on the B-train to work, but nothing appears to be as usual. Work is being done at the entrance to the station and your normal parking spot is occupied already. After having collected yourself, you find an alternative spot to leave your bike before getting on the train and forgetting all about it. However, your brain has worked at full stretch to help you make the best decision possible in regards to your parking options. And it has wisely done so.[...] The clever thing is that our brain simultaneously predict the most likely spot to find for the bike based upon both the old and the latest experiences. Thus, we can use the prediction as best suited in the present situation."

The group behind this research project is now going to use the technique from the investigation on patients with Parkinson's disease. They expect to get the results in a few years.

The research project has also been published in the journal "Nature Communications".