World Psychology: Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a country of 10.5 million people. Czech is the official language of the country. Programs in psychology are available at Masaryk University in Brno, Palacky University in Ostrava, the University of Olomouc, and Charles University in Prague.
Freud was born in the Czech Republic, so there is a special relationship between psychology and the Czech Republic. However, after the Second World War, communist party control limited and often abused psychology in order to go after its opposition. Today psychology is going through a revival.
Jaroslav Flegr is an evolutionary biologist at Charles University. His research has focused on Toxoplasma infection and its role in personality and behavior change. His lab has found that men and women infected with the disease demonstrate lower conscientiousness, generosity, and novelty-seeking. In one of his team's publications, they reported that people infected with Toxoplasma have an increased risk of many important diseases and disorders, including ischemic heart disease, certain cancers, and epilepsy.
Klára Marečková is a Marie Curie Fellow in the Behavioral and Social Neuroscience research group at the Central European Institute of Technology [CEITEC] in Brno. Her research focuses on mapping the human brain and particularly on biomarkers of psychiatric disorders. One of her most recent studies found that depression during pregnancy may be linked to atypical brain development in children.
Lenka Kollerová is a social psychologist who devotes her research to studying the effects of bullying on child development. In particular, she has focused on the role of teachers in identifying peer exclusion and mitigating the effects of bullying. Her research has found that gender and ethnic biases play a key role in a teacher's ability to judge the extent of peer exclusion.
Robots and psychology
Scientists at the Czech Technology University (ČVUT) in Prague have been using robots to get a better understanding of human development.
They use the iCub Robot (see image) which has over 4,000 sensors that allow it to see, hear, and touch.
The robot's "electronic skin" makes iCub ideal for simulating how babies acquire tactile knowledge of their surroundings – including learning about their own bodies.
According to Dr. Matěj Hoffmann, We’re interested in how a newborn brain learns to use its body, to understand its dimensions, what it can do, how to reach for objects, and the like. Primarily, we’re interested in the first and second years of life, how quickly a child learns to do a huge number of things from scratch.
Scientists and students at CVUT are part of a growing number of neuroscientists using robots to better understand the brain and behavior. Robots provide a valuable tool for conducting experiments and collecting data in controlled and precise ways that would be difficult to achieve with human or animal subjects alone. Here are some other ways in which neuroscientists use robots to study the brain and behavior:
Behavioral Experiments: Robots can be programmed to interact with animals in a controlled environment. For example, they can be used to study how animals react to different types of stimuli, such as visual, auditory, or tactile cues. Researchers can manipulate the robot's behavior to test hypotheses about how the brain processes and responds to these stimuli.
Neural Recording and Stimulation: Robots can be used to precisely place electrodes for recording neural activity or delivering electrical stimulation to specific brain regions. This allows researchers to investigate how neural circuits function and how they influence behavior.
Training and Rehabilitation: Robots are used in rehabilitation settings to assist patients in regaining motor control and coordination after brain injuries or strokes. These robots can provide precise and repetitive training, helping researchers study neural plasticity and recovery processes.
Cognitive Studies: Robots can be used to model cognitive processes in animals or humans. Researchers can program robots to perform tasks that require decision-making, memory, or problem-solving and then study the neural mechanisms underlying these processes.
Social Interaction Studies: Robots can be used to investigate social behaviors and interactions in animals and humans. Researchers can program robots to mimic social partners and observe how the brain responds to different social cues and situations.
Neural Network Training: In the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning, robots can be used to train and test neural network algorithms that simulate brain functions. This helps researchers develop more sophisticated models of brain processes.