Scientists talked about the neural mechanism of procrastination

Scientists have identified a neural mechanism in the brain that may explain why people postpone unpleasant or stressful tasks. We are talking about a neural circuit that suppresses the willingness to act in situations of discomfort. This was reported on January 9 in the Scientific American magazine.

According to the authors of the work, procrastination is associated not only with willpower or personal qualities of a person, but also with specific processes in the brain. The study was conducted on macaques, whose brain structure is similar to humans in many ways, especially in the areas responsible for decision-making and motivation.

During the experiment, the animals were offered to complete a task with a reward. In one case, only a reward followed after the performance, in the other, the reward was accompanied by an unpleasant stimulus in the form of a jet of air in the face. As expected, in the second variant, the macaques began to act noticeably more slowly.

The scientists then temporarily suppressed the connection between two areas of the brain — the ventral striatum and the ventral pallidum. These structures have previously been associated with the regulation of motivation and evaluation of efforts. After weakening this neural circuit, the animals began to complete the task faster, even knowing that an unpleasant stimulus was inevitable.

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According to the co-author of the study, associate professor Kenichi Amemori of Kyoto University, scientists were able to establish a causal relationship between a specific neural pathway and the suppression of motivation when faced with unpleasant actions. He stressed that this mechanism actually works as a brake, slowing down decision-making and launching actions.

The researchers believe that the discovery may help to better understand the behavior of people under conditions of chronic stress and overload typical of modern life. In the future, the results of the work can be used in the development of treatment methods for mental disorders accompanied by impaired motivation, including depression and schizophrenia.

On December 3, Anastasia Cardiakos, a family psychologist and psychotherapist, told us how to regain control of attention and stop living in notification mode. She explained that the main principle of digital hygiene is to control your notifications on your devices.

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