Science For Our Well-Being
How can anticipating fun enrich humans?
In 2020, scientists taught rats to drive tiny cars, and the animals loved it. (There is a fantastic video!) Now, the researchers have extended their work to show how anticipating a good time can ramp up rats’ capacity for joy. Preliminary results suggest that animals who learned to wait for their turn behind the wheel tested as more ‘optimistic’ in their thinking, performed better on cognitive tasks, and were bolder in their problem-solving strategies.
“Rather than pushing buttons for instant rewards, they remind us that planning, anticipating, and enjoying the ride may be key to a healthy brain,” says behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert, who led the research. “That’s a lesson my lab rats have taught me well.”
Reference: Nature