Scientists developed a dystopian brain chip to prevent monkeys from taking risks. Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan used light flashes from the chip to communicate with various parts of macaques’ brains. Turning on the light on one side of the brain induced a tendency to take larger risks, whereas flashing the other caused the monkeys to settle for lower risk and reward.
Brain chip in monkeys: The findings will lead to a better understanding of the underlying causes of gambling addiction
Now, experts believe the findings will lead to a better understanding of the underlying causes of gambling addiction. Veit Stuphorn, an associate professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, did not participate in the study but wrote an accompanying commentary:
“This unexpected finding implies that two neighboring regions in the frontal cortex together regulate risk attitude in a competitive push-pull-like fashion and can both increase and decrease risk seeking.
“This is important because it opens up the possibility of identifying the neuronal mechanisms in the circuit underlying this ability.”
Monkeys are natural risk takers, so scientists began by determining how much this applied to the specific animals used in the study. They trained them to choose different colored spots in the hopes of being rewarded with different amounts of water.
Some of the spots had a higher chance of releasing water than others, with larger amounts on spots with a lower chance of yielding, according to MailOnline.