Mathematics of Happiness
Happiness - the subjective well-being of individuals is an important measure for societies – the well-being of all South Africans is, for example, a goal of national priorities set out by the South African government. Happiness is influenced by life circumstances such as wealth and population demographics. However, it is not well understood how the influence of daily life events aggregate into subjective feelings. Using functional MRI and computational modelling, researchers at the University College London have developed a mathematical description of happiness. It shows that our happiness is high when we win and our expectations are low - but that happiness fades over time.
If you are interested to know what MRI research in neuroscience is undertaken in our division - and perhaps want to get involved as a postgraduate student - have a look at our research pages or contact us.