I Taught Rats to Drive. They Taught Me to Enjoy the Ride | Kelly Lambert | TED

- 老鼠能够通过训练学会驾驶小车
- 实验展示了动物的学习能力和适应性
- 研究启发对人类心理健康的新思考
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I Taught Rats to Drive. They Taught Me to Enjoy the Ride | Kelly Lambert | TED
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I Taught Rats to Drive. They Taught Me to Enjoy the Ride | Kelly Lambert | TED

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17K views 2 days ago#TED#Neuroscience#TEDTalks
17,317 views • Apr 19, 2026 • #TED #Neuroscience #TEDTalks
What can happy rats teach us about human joy? Behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert describes how her team trained rats to drive tiny cars to earn treats — and noticed something surprising about how effort and anticipation affect the brain. The experiment opens new questions about how reward, agency and "behaviorceuticals" might help build resilience and suppo…...more
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I Taught Rats to Drive. They Taught Me to Enjoy the Ride | Kelly Lambert | TED
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[@turingCompleteJeff](http://www.youtube.com/@turingCompleteJeff)
as a teacher it is clear to me that dopamine is a signal that something novel is occurring - not a pleasure chemical BF Skinner also researched this topic in a very similar way with pigeons where he concluded that a pigeon who is unable to form a usable pattern for novelty is more likely to become addicted to the anticipation and the behavior that they believe may trigger a predictable response one might conclude that depression and anxiety result from interacting with a world where any amount of effort changes no outcomes for yourself or the world around you consequently, joy and positivity can be found when we connect or correct models of the world to real consequences and complete our dopamine cycle by observing the outcome of a predictable pattern in the outside environment
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[@tobiashauk4368](http://www.youtube.com/@tobiashauk4368)
There is a saying in Germany: Vorfreude ist die schönste Freude. Anticipating joy is the best joy. :)
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[@RealFatherHowie](http://www.youtube.com/@RealFatherHowie)
Do you think in medieval times they put rats in armor and encouraged them to slaughter each other with weapons in a gladiator pit as study? Romanratiators.
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[@asar2252](http://www.youtube.com/@asar2252)
When a rat drives better than you.
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[@laryssaronesteves527](http://www.youtube.com/@laryssaronesteves527)
7:25!Image 16: 😂13:51!Image 17: ❤!Image 18: ✨ A study full of wisdom. Thank you so much!
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[@thunderdragon517](http://www.youtube.com/@thunderdragon517)
I think giving them a cookie would be easier. Wait, that's for a mouse
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[@justworship0570](http://www.youtube.com/@justworship0570)
Greetings from Dagestan !Image 21: ❤
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[@MichaelManOfPrayer](http://www.youtube.com/@MichaelManOfPrayer)
This was so awesome! I agree joy and hope and positive expectation are important.
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[@scottys-world](http://www.youtube.com/@scottys-world)
The level of enlightening can cause an overwhelming theorem based understanding of many different complexities within our own mind processing of the question of knowledge. Yet what do we really know?
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[@wallaroo1295](http://www.youtube.com/@wallaroo1295)
I'm a Ratty type, and I just ADORE this experiment! Thank you Ma'am!
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[@XAirForcedotcom](http://www.youtube.com/@XAirForcedotcom)
I don’t care that you taught them to drive but who taught them to run nations!Image 26: 😂
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[@gavenchyjames6444](http://www.youtube.com/@gavenchyjames6444)
What!!? Rats!!
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[@johnpersinger4358](http://www.youtube.com/@johnpersinger4358)
a study on whether an artificial economy is created amongst the rats based on the color of the froot loop. !Image 29: 🧐
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[@vikaskhanna8559](http://www.youtube.com/@vikaskhanna8559)
In our daily life, we breathe, but we forget that we’re breathing. The foundation of all mindfulness practice is to bring our attention to our in-breath and out-breath. This is called mindfulness of breathing, or conscious breathing. It’s very simple, but the effect can be very great. In our daily life, although our body is in one place, our mind is often in another. Paying attention to our in-breath and out-breath brings our mind back to our body. And suddenly we are there, fully present in the here and the now. Conscious breathing is like drinking a glass of cool water. As we breathe in, we really feel the air fi lling our lungs. We don’t need to control our breath. We feel the breath as it actually is. It may be long or short, deep or shallow. In the light of our awareness it will naturally become slower and deeper. Conscious breathing is the key to uniting body and mind and bringing the energy of mindfulness into each moment of our life. Regardless of our internal weather—our thoughts, emotions, and perceptions—our breathing is always with us like a faithful friend. Whenever we feel carried away, sunk in a deep emotion, or caught in thoughts about the past or the future, we can return to our breath-ing to collect and anchor our mind.
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[@jasminejeanine2239](http://www.youtube.com/@jasminejeanine2239)
That's interesting. I find in human that anticipation is bad. What goes up must come down. People generally crash once after they get whatever they were anticipating. It's a drug and a stressor all wrapped into one. If you actually want to improve severe depression like me, the trick is to avoid anticipating anything. Then you live solely in the moment. Peace is worth far more than happiness, as happiness can only ever by definition be temporary. Brains just cannot maintain such emotions for long.
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[@NewtonMD](http://www.youtube.com/@NewtonMD)
And then the rat drives better than you
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[@johnpersinger4358](http://www.youtube.com/@johnpersinger4358)
a literal rat race. it must be so.
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[@ants070](http://www.youtube.com/@ants070)
Why are the wheels on the rat mobile like that?
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[@JohnWick-zn7rf](http://www.youtube.com/@JohnWick-zn7rf)
and then rats proceed to genocide people
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[@bloodlettingbeast9599](http://www.youtube.com/@bloodlettingbeast9599)
Micah do not deserve this !Image 37: 😡
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I Taught Rats to Drive. They Taught Me to Enjoy the Ride | Kelly Lambert | TED
469 Likes
17,317 Views
Apr 19 2026
What can happy rats teach us about human joy? Behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert describes how her team trained rats to drive tiny cars to earn treats — and noticed something surprising about how effort and anticipation affect the brain. The experiment opens new questions about how reward, agency and "behaviorceuticals" might help build resilience and support mental health. (Recorded at TEDxRVA Youth on November 9, 2025 Join us in person at a TED conference: https://tedtalks.social/events Become a TED Member to support our mission: https://ted.com/membership Subscribe to a TED newsletter: https://ted.com/newsletters Follow TED! X:  Instagram:  Facebook:  LinkedIn:  TikTok:  The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world's leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit https://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Watch more: https://go.ted.com/kellylambert TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz.... For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com#TED#TEDTalks#Neuroscience…...more
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