Dopamine and the Drive to Do Good: Celebrating Jamie Talbot’s New Publication on Prosocial Motivation in Parkinson’s Disease

We are thrilled to spotlight an exciting new publication from one of our outstanding PhD Programme students, Jamie Talbot, whose work as co-author is helping to shed new light on the neuroscience of human motivation, and what drives us to help others.

Published in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience, the study is titled “Dopamine boosts motivation for prosocial effort in Parkinson’s disease” and breaks new ground in our understanding of how dopamine, a chemical best known for its role in reward and pleasure, also plays a vital part in motivating prosocial behavior — that is, our willingness to put in effort not for ourselves, but to help someone else.

We are incredibly proud of Jamie Talbot for his contribution to this pioneering research. His work exemplifies the impact and innovation we strive for in our PhD programme, combining scientific rigour with meaningful insights into the human condition.

📖 Talbot, J. et al. (2025). Dopamine boosts motivation for prosocial effort in Parkinson’s disease.
The Journal of Neuroscience.

🗓️ Published: 02 January 2025
🔗 Read the full article here