How can you better treat depression and anxiety? Nadine Gogolla, the new director at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, is researching the emotional world of mice in order to come closer to the answer. About emotions and what they do to us.
Do mice have feelings? Nobody would argue with monkeys, but such a small rodent? Nadine Gogolla has clearly proven it. When your laboratory mice get sweets, they are happy. If you taste bitter food, pursing your lips and sticking out your tongue. If you are afraid, your pupils will dilate. Nadine Gogolla and her team at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology examined joy, disgust, displeasure, pain and other feelings in mice and found that the emotions of these tiny animals can be read in their faces, just like in humans. But what are emotions anyway? Can you be measured? And how could that help patients with mental illness? Nadine Gogolla is on the way to answer these questions. Even if it is not yet clear how long that will take.