The Brain's Reward System
The strongest dopamine spikes come from
unpredictable rewards
What do social media companies want you to do on their apps?
To maximize your time on the app
What is one consequence of a short attention span?
Less ability to focus on tasks, reduced efficiency
What is something you could do to limit your social media use?
Set time limits for each app and check in with yourself
Name one of the behaviors Dopamine is responsible for.
Reward and Motivation, Learning, Goal-directed behavior
Name one thing algorithms track
watch time, likes, shares, replays
How does blue light affect your sleep?
Unlike predictable rewards, this type of reward pattern produces stronger dopamine spikes and keeps users engaged because they do not know what content will appear next.
Variable or unpredictable rewards?
What is reward prediction error
the difference between the reward you expect to get and the reward you actually receive
Explain the concept of variable rewards
Not all content is equally engaging and unpredictability keeps you scrolling/hooked
What is the stress hormone called, and what are its impacts
Cortisol. It activates your brain and keeps you alert/awake
This concept describes how dopamine increases when a reward is better than expected and decreases when it is worse than expected.
Reward prediction error?