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What’s Wrong with Precommitment Devices?

August 10, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell 3 Comments

Odysseus tied on the mast. Icon for the Greek ...

A precommitment device is a strategy for forcing yourself to do something you think you should do but you don’t actually want to do. You might resort to a precommitment device if your will power and self-control have failed to do the trick. The most famous example of someone using a precommitment device is Odysseus having himself tied to the mast of his ship to avoid the temptation of the sirens.

The most common precommitment devices involve agreeing to forfeit a certain sum of money if you fail to achieve a goal or accomplish a particular task. You could make an agreement with yourself to donate money to a charity if you fail to attend the gym three times a week, lose a specific amount of weight, or complete the next chapter of your book. Of course, if you’re the only one who knows about this agreement, you can easily waffle and wiggle your way out of it.

A more binding agreement would be to agree to pay a friend that same amount of money if you fail to meet your goal. Not only would you lose money, you would also experience some degree of shame. That’s the premise behind precommitment devices: we will do what’s good for us in order to avoid the threat of negative consequences. That’s also what makes them problematic.

Underlying the popularity of precommitment devices is the assumption that we are, in general, rational beings who want to avoid negative consequences. But there’s not a lot of evidence support that idea, and if it were true, we wouldn’t need precommitment devices to begin with. Rational beings who were aware of potential negative consequences would all be healthy, law-abiding, diligent, honest, tidy, sober, rule-following good citizens. Obviously, we are not all that. Precommitment devices have something in common with affirmations, which is that the people they work for probably need them the least.

Loss aversion is one rationale offered for using precommitment devices. It’s true we are programmed to avoid losses, but a loss of enjoyment can be experienced as a loss, too. In some cases a more significant loss than the loss of a few bucks.

Another problem with precommitment devices is that they are black and white. Either you do it or you don’t. You win or you lose. You avoid temptation or you give in to it. This isn’t a scenario that allows for being present, noticing what’s actually happening, learning something about yourself or what you’re attempting to do, or adjusting your course. This is more about getting the upper hand over your recalcitrant, weak-willed self. And when the next such situation arises, you will have to do battle with that bad boy self all over again.

There’s Another Way to Make a Precommitment

Creating an intention is a form of precommitment, too, but one without the threat of negative consequences. Creating an intention also takes into consideration the fact that what you’re attempting is not easy, but without judging your supposed lack of self-control. Changing any behavior is difficult simply because we’re wired to keep doing whatever we have been doing. Creating an intention—as part of the I.A.P. process—allows you to focus on something you want to do or be as opposed to something you don’t want to do or be. It helps you keep your attention on your desired outcome and motivates you to keep going, one step at a time, even when the going is difficult. Instead of having to be good or pay the price for being bad, you aim to keep getting better. You don’t have to initiate or engage in an inner struggle with yourself. And instead of forking over cash when you fail, you get to reward yourself when you succeed.

Have you ever used a precommitment device? If so, how did it work for you?

Filed Under: Beliefs, Choice, Happiness, Learning, Living, Mind Tagged With: Commitment, Intention, Odysseus, Precommitment Device, Self-Control, Will Power

Your Brain on Coffee?

July 24, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell 2 Comments

English: A photo of a cup of coffee. Esperanto...

Do you think of coffee as “the devil’s brew,” liquid gold, “god in a cup,” or just your morning wake-up call? Do you think it’s good for you or bad for you? Are you addicted to it? Are you trying to quit or cut back? How long since your last cup? Are you drinking coffee right now?

Coffee is widely consumed but just as widely misunderstood. Many myths about it have proven hard to dispel in spite of the research debunking them. Coffee is considered to be a stimulant that is addictive. You’ve probably heard someone comment about coffee being his or her drug of choice. Maybe you’ve said it yourself.

Caffeine passes through the blood brain barrier, so it directly affects the brain. Scientists can’t fully explain all the mechanisms involved, but there is growing consensus about several things.

1. Caffeine isn’t a stimulant the way cocaine or amphetamines are.

When caffeine enters the brain, it binds to and blocks adenosine receptors (without activating them). Adenosine is a neurochemical produced by neurons as they fire. As adenosine levels build up, you begin to feel sleepy or at least less energetic. With caffeine blocking the adenosine receptors, your nervous system doesn’t respond the way it normally would. Instead of feeling drowsy, you continue to feel alert.

 

2. Caffeine can become a habit, but it isn’t addictive in the strict definition of the term.

Another thing happens when caffeine blocks adenosine receptors: more glutamate and dopamine are released. These are both excitatory neurotransmitters that are also involved in memory and learning. Dopamine is part of the brain’s reward system. The hit of dopamine you get from caffeine is another reason you can become habituated to drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks. You feel good and your brain urges you to do it again.

Caffeine can change brain structure in terms of the number of adenosine receptors. And some people experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop using it. However, not everyone experiences withdrawal symptoms—and some of those symptoms may be all in your mind. It turns out that reactions to caffeine vary widely and are influenced by both genetics and expectations. If one of your parents is sensitive to caffeine, you probably are, too. Likewise, if you have a parent with a high tolerance for caffeine, you probably do, as well.

3. Caffeine doesn’t keep most people who drink it up at night.

The half-life of caffeine is about five or six hours, although it varies from person to person and with different conditions (health, age, weight, body type, metabolism, pregnancy, etc.). As long as you don’t drink coffee late in the day, you probably will be able to sleep just fine. On the other hand, some people can fall asleep right after having a cup of coffee. In fact, one recommended method for boosting your energy mid-day is to have a cup of coffee and then take a nap. The combination of the two works better than either one alone. [I experienced this once, albeit unintentionally, and can vouch for the results.]

4. Caffeine does help you maintain your attention or focus on tasks, but only on routine tasks or activities that are kind of boring and not particularly challenging.

It can help you tune out distractions, which means it may be helpful for people with ADD or ADHD but not for people with OCD. Caffeine can help you work faster. However, if you want to focus on a creative activity or something that requires conscious (System 2) attention—“real thinking” or “pure thought,” as some refer to it—caffeine won’t be much of a help. It can even be a hindrance.

5. Caffeine can improve your long-term memory by helping your brain consolidate those memories.

The trick is to consume it after you learn something rather than before. This makes sense given caffeine’s effect of blocking adenosine receptors and allowing for the release of more dopamine and glutamate, both of which are involved in learning.

But wait…there’s more!

The conclusion of a 2010 detailed literature review by M.J. Glade revealed that a moderate amount of caffeine:

  • Increases energy availability
  • Increases daily energy expenditure
  • Decreases fatigue
  • Decreases the sense of effort associated with physical activity
  • Enhances physical performance
  • Enhances motor performance
  • Enhances cognitive performance
  • Increases alertness, wakefulness, and feelings of “energy”
  • Decreases mental fatigue
  • Quickens reactions
  • Increases the accuracy of reactions
  • Increases the ability to concentrate and focus attention
  • Enhances short-term memory
  • Increases the ability to solve problems requiring reasoning
  • Increases the ability to make correct decisions
  • Enhances cognitive functioning capabilities and neuromuscular coordination

The key for most people is moderation, which means limiting coffee consumption to about three eight-ounce cups a day. Not all eight-ounce cups of coffee contain the same amount of caffeine, however; nor do they contain the same amount of CQA (caffeoylquinic acid), the compound in coffee that may be responsible for some of its beneficial effects. Hopefully, we will eventually be able to get that information at our point of purchase. In the meantime, my brain says enough thinking and writing about coffee. It’s time to enjoy some!

Filed Under: Brain, Habit, Learning, Mind Tagged With: Adenosine receptor, Brain, Caffeine, Coffee, Mind

Food, Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and Habits

July 17, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell 2 Comments

week-end-pleasure

What do all these things have in common? The answer is dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is involved in the brain’s reward system. It is triggered by the expectation of a reward and its release fills us with a feeling of pleasure. Our brain then associates the behavior with the feeling of pleasure.

The brain’s reward system helps ensure that we learn—and remember—behaviors that enhance our chances of remaining alive. That’s why so many of the things we naturally find rewarding are related to food and reproduction. Many different substances, activities, and behaviors trigger the release of dopamine. Some of them, in addition to food and sex, are:

  • social interactions
  • music
  • generosity
  • scary movies, scary situations, or scary thoughts
  • psychoactive drugs (alcohol, cocaine, heroin, nicotine, etc.)
  • gambling
  • sugar

Dopamine is part of a brain circuit called the mesolimbic pathway. The mesolimbic pathway connects behaviors to feelings of pleasure, which results in the formation of habits.  A pleasurable experience acts as a stimulus to wake up the mesolimbic pathway. Along with the release of dopamine, emotional and learning circuits are activated to increase the likelihood we will remember what we did.

A reward is positive reinforcement. It motivates us to repeat the behavior. In the case of long-term goals, small hits of dopamine encourage us to keep moving forward, so it pays to know where you are headed. And it’s more effective to acknowledge and celebrate each small accomplishment along the way than it is to wait for one big jolt of dopamine at the end.

Dopamine also plays a role in:

  • movement
  • memory
  • behavior and cognition
  • attention and alertness
  • motivation
  • sleep
  • mood
  • learning

Abnormal levels of dopamine are involved in Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and drug addiction.

The Good, the Bad, and the Addictive

Although a wide variety of behaviors can affect dopamine levels, some of those behaviors have a greater potential for being harmful or even life-threatening. Psychostimulant drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy operate by inhibiting the reuptake of dopamine. As a result, the brain remains flooded with it. The person using the drug will continue ingesting it in order to maintain the increased level of dopamine.

Dopamine affects the sympathetic nervous system, resulting in a release of energy which is intended to spur us on toward the finish line. So the abuse of psychostimulant drugs often results in increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure. There is no long-term change to the production of dopamine or to dopamine receptors in the brain as a result of using these kinds of drugs, but when a person stops taking them, he or she will experience some seriously unpleasant feelings.

Many activities or behaviors performed compulsively are classified as addictive, even though they have no component of physical dependence. That’s because the behaviors stimulate the brain’s reward system—or over-stimulate it—to the extent that people are driven by a craving for whatever gets them those hits of dopamine. Craving a reward doesn’t just happen in the case of addictions. Craving is actually essential for successfully creating good habits, too. Whether it’s using cocaine or getting more fruit and vegetables in one’s diet, the brain’s reward system operates the same way.

Behavior  —> Dopamine Hit —> Pleasure —> “Do it again!”
Rewards Reinforce Habits

If there are no rewards, or weak rewards, habits are much less likely to take hold. That’s because the basal ganglia, which is the part of the brain that turns repetitive behaviors into habits, depends on having enough dopamine to operate efficiently.

If something doesn’t produce a hit of dopamine in our brain, we will not experience it as rewarding. It doesn’t matter if 99% of the rest of the people in the world find it rewarding (i.e., get a dopamine hit from it). If it doesn’t give us a dopamine hit, it won’t work as a reward. We talk about the reward as if it’s the activity, behavior, thing, or substance. But the things (activities, behaviors, etc.) that feel rewarding are essentially means to the same end: that hit of dopamine.

Sometimes we know what the reward for a habit is, but since habits can be formed outside our awareness, there are times when we’re kind of clueless. And as far as the brain is concerned, anything that produces a hit of dopamine is good. The brain doesn’t care about our opinions or mental assessments of good or bad. No one sets out to become addicted to a substance or a behavior. The brain’s reward system operates outside our conscious awareness. Feed into it and we create a habit or an addiction. Try to stop it consciously using will power or intention without understanding the powerful system we’re up against and we fail more often than not.

It’s easy to believe that your verbal inner voice is your whole thought process and ignore your neurochemical self. —Loretta Graziano Breuning, Ph.D.

In order to change a habit or start a new one, we have to be able to identify what it is that gives us that hit of dopamine. We may know we feel good every time we do a particular thing without knowing what part of the behavior is creating the reward. It’s especially important to figure rewards out correctly when trying to change an existing habit. If the new behavior doesn’t produce a similar reward, it won’t work as well.

Long-Term Reward System

Dopamine doesn’t just play a role in immediate rewards or in the formation of habits, it also helps us stay focused on long-term goals whose rewards are not within sight.

The journal Nature reported on a study conducted by researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle and MIT that revealed details on how the brain is able to stay focused on long-term goals.

While most previous studies have involved looking at dopamine with respect to an immediate reward, the new study found increasing levels of dopamine as laboratory rats approached an expected reward after delayed gratification.

Researchers were able to continuously record dopamine concentration while training rats to find their way through a maze in pursuit of a chocolate milk reward. What they found was that levels of dopamine rose steadily and culminated in a peak level as the rodent neared the reward. According to Ann Graybiel, brain researcher at MIT:

The dopamine signal seems to reflect how faraway the rat is from its goal. The closer it gets, the stronger the signal becomes. It’s as if the animal were adjusting its expectations, knowing it had further to go.

Graybiel believes the same thing happens in the brains of humans.

Of course, many of our long-term goals could take weeks, months, or even years to achieve. In such cases, we’d be wise to set short-term goals, track our progress, and reward ourselves for achievement along the way.

All Rewards Are Not Created Equal

As previously stated, a reward that works for one person may not work at all for someone else. One person may imagine soaking for an hour in a hot bubble bath to be a tiny slice of heaven while another person considers it cruel and unusual punishment. And some rewards that seem small and innocuous might turn out to have unintended negative consequences.

Temperament-Based Rewards: Understanding our personality or temperament can help us identify the type of reward that is most effective. Rewards can be physical/material, emotional, or mental. Someone who responds well to mental rewards, for example, may not be very motivated by that bubble bath.

Guilty Pleasures: It’s counterproductive to use something we ordinarily feel guilty about or try to avoid doing as a reward. That’s especially true if we use “guilty pleasure” rewards often. What we end up doing is reinforcing the craving for something we’ve already concluded doesn’t serve us in the long run. Using “bad” behavior to reward ourselves for good behavior pretty much defeats the purpose.

Satisfying Rewards: Know yourself. Then explore. Stretch your imagination. We tend to get into ruts in all kinds of areas including that of rewarding ourselves. Dopamine is more likely to be triggered when we try—and enjoy—new activities. There are probably a lot of things we might find pleasurable and have even thought about doing but never followed through on. Identifying some of those things and intentionally trying them out as rewards could expand our horizons and maybe even lead us in new and pleasurable directions.

One-time or Occasional Rewards: Rewarding ourselves after an intense or exhausting effort can be tricky. The point when the effort or ordeal is over is often when our self-control is at a low point. It’s easy to feel we really deserve a treat of some kind. The almost automatic next step is to give ourselves a free pass to overindulge. But that turns an opportunity to reinforce positive behavior into an excuse for self-indulgence, and it could easily negate the sense of accomplishment we would otherwise feel. Planning ahead can solve the problem. If we decide what our reward will be ahead of time—before our self-control is depleted—we can bypass temptation. Then it’s a win-win situation.

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Rewards

Sometimes the reward stimulus comes from others or from our environment. We might work extra hard for a bigger paycheck or for acknowledgement of our efforts if those things make us feel good. We might take up some form of exercise to look better at the beach or swimming pool or senior center if other people’s approval makes us feel good. We might get into the habit of picking things up around the house to avoid arguing with our spouse or partner if maintaining the peace makes us feel good. Similarly, we might change our diet or take up meditation so our doctor won’t get on our case about our blood pressure if getting through our next appointment without another lecture makes us feel good.

Extrinsic rewards can be effective for a while, maybe for a long while. Extrinsic rewards often motivate us to change or start a habit, and that’s a good thing. But extrinsic rewards are usually not effective over the long haul. If we ask ourselves why we want to do what we’re doing—not why someone else thinks we should do it—we have a better opportunity to clarify what’s really important to us. And if we can’t answer that question, it’s a sign we might just be spinning our wheels.

If we can identify a reward behavior that is meaningful to us—an intrinsic reward—we’re much more likely to stick with the habit or behavior. In fact, if we focus on intrinsic rewards, we’re not only more likely to be successful in creating and maintaining habits we want to have, we’re also likely to find out we no longer need to reward ourselves for continuing them! Rewards are great motivators, and they are critical in kick-starting new habits. But nothing beats the moment of discovering the habit has become a part of who we are and not just something we do.

Relegating What Matters to Reward Status

It can be tempting to use something that really matters to us as a reward for putting time and effort into something that doesn’t. If I get the house clean, I can get some writing done. If I finish this project for so-and-so, then I can work on my [music, quilting, gardening, etc.…].

This is an unequivocally bad idea and entirely backwards.The things that matter to us are often the very activities that energize and enliven us, whereas the things that don’t matter, but which we have to do anyway, can be draining and tiring. Putting off doing something that really matters until we’re drained and tired from directing the bulk of our energy and attention on things that don’t matter usually leads to not doing the things that matter.

If there’s something that’s really important, we need to find another way to include it in our lives. Making sure we spend time on things that matter can actually make those other activities less burdensome.

Besides, if we have to constantly reward ourselves for getting through the day, we might want to consider changing at least some of what it is we’re doing during the day.

~ ~ ~

The bottom line is that the importance of rewards cannot be overstated, yet this is often the step people omit when they are trying to change their behavior or achieve their goals. Maybe they place excessive confidence in self-control or will-power. Or maybe they believe they should be able to do these things without having to reward themselves.

But the brain’s reward system is going to operate with or without your consent or input. So why not be intentional about it and use it instead of letting it use you?

Filed Under: Brain, Finding What You Want, Habit, Learning, Living Tagged With: Brain, Dopamine, Goals, Habits, Mesolimbic pathway, Mind, Pleasure, Reward system

Brain & Mind Roundup 3

June 30, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell 2 Comments

Here are some recent stories about what goes on in the brain when we’re writing, making music, and appreciating art.

Click on the titles to read the complete articles.

Our Brains Are Made for Enjoying Art

Ann Lukits (The Wall Street Journal)

Analysis suggests art appreciation is a natural biological process.

“Viewing paintings engages a number of different regions of the brain, suggesting art appreciation is a natural biological process, according to the report in the June issue of the journal Brain and Cognition. The study found that paintings activated areas of the brain involved in vision, pleasure, memory, recognition and emotions, in addition to systems that underlie the conscious processing of new information to give it meaning.”

This is Your Brain on Writing

Carl Zimmer (The New York Times)

Becoming skilled at writing may activate the same areas of the brain that are activated in people who are skilled at other things, such as sports or music. This study showed that the areas of the brain activated in novice writers were not the same as those activated in the skilled, “professionally trained,” writers.

“During brainstorming, the novice writers activated their visual centers. By contrast, the brains of expert writers showed more activity in regions involved in speech.”

It would appear that training is training is training—no matter what the training is for.

Musical Training Increases Executive Brain Function in Adults and Children

Jeremy Dean (PsyBlog)

“Both the brains and behaviour of adult and child musicians were compared with non-musicians in the study by researchers at the Boston Children’s Hospital. They found that adult musicians compared to non-musicians showed enhanced performance on measures of cognitive flexibility, working memory, and verbal fluency. And musically trained children showed enhanced performance on measures of verbal fluency and processing speed.”

Music Changes the Way You Think

Daniel A. Yudkin and Yaacov Trope (Scientific American)

Different music encourages different frames of mind.

“Tiny, almost immeasurable features in a piece of music have the power to elicit deeply personal and specific patterns of thought and emotion in human listeners….Ponderous, resonant, unfamiliar tonalities—the proverbial “auditory forest”—cause people to construe things abstractly. By contrast, the rapid, consonant, familiar chords of the perfect fifth—the “auditory trees”—bring out the concrete mindset….That music can move us is no surprise; it’s the point of the art form, after all. What’s new here is the manner in which the researchers have quantified in fine-grained detail the cognitive ramifications of unpacked melodic compounds.”

Filed Under: Brain, Brain & Mind Roundup, Creating, Learning, Living, Writing Tagged With: Art Appreciation, Brain, Cognition, Mind, Music, Writing

Brain & Mind Roundup 2

June 16, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell 2 Comments

This time, Brain & Mind Roundup focuses on articles about writing and the brain, specifically how taking notes by hand (instead of by computer) actually facilitates learning and how learning cursive stimulates the brain.

The pen compels lucidity. –Robert Stone, novelist

A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop

Cindi May (Scientific American)

Because students can type significantly faster than they can write, those who use laptops in the classroom tend to take more notes than those who write out their notes by hand. Moreover, when students take notes using laptops they tend to take notes verbatim, writing down every last word uttered by their professor.

 But new research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer demonstrates that students who write out their notes on paper actually learn more. Those who wrote out their notes by hand had a stronger conceptual understanding and were more successful in applying and integrating the material than those who used took notes with their laptops.

Mueller and Oppenheimer postulate that taking notes by hand requires different types of cognitive processing than taking notes on a laptop, and these different processes have consequences for learning.  Writing by hand is slower and more cumbersome than typing, and students cannot possibly write down every word in a lecture.  Instead, they listen, digest, and summarize so that they can succinctly capture the essence of the information.  Thus, taking notes by hand forces the brain to engage in some heavy “mental lifting,” and these efforts foster comprehension and retention.  By contrast, when typing, students can easily produce a written record of the lecture without processing its meaning, as faster typing speeds allow students to transcribe a lecture word for word without devoting much thought to the content.

What Learning Cursive Does for Your Brain

William R. Klemm (Psychology Today)

Scientists are discovering that learning cursive is an important tool for cognitive development, particularly in training the brain to learn “functional specialization,” that is capacity for optimal efficiency. In the case of learning cursive writing, the brain develops functional specialization that integrates sensation, movement control, and thinking. Brain imaging studies reveal that multiple areas of brain become co-activated during learning of cursive writing of pseudo-letters, as opposed to typing or just visual practice.

The benefits to brain development are similar to what you get with learning to play a musical instrument. Not everybody can afford music lessons, but everybody has access to pencil and paper.

Brain Research and Cursive Writing

Dr. David Sortino*

Rand Nelson of Peterson Directed Handwriting, believes that when children are exposed to cursive handwriting, changes occur in their brains that allow a child to overcome motor challenges. He says, the act of physically gripping a pen or pencil and practicing the swirls, curls and connections of cursive handwriting activates parts of the brain that lead to increased language fluency. That is, cursive writing ability affords us the opportunity to naturally train these fine motor skills by taking advantage of a child’s inability to fully control his fingers. This means cursive writing acts as a building block rather than as a stressor, providing a less strenuous learning experience.

Moreover, cursive handwriting stimulates brain synapses and synchronicity between the left and right hemispheres, something absent from printing, typing or keyboarding.

*Dr. David Sortino holds a Master’s degree in Human Development from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Clinical/Developmental Psychology from Saybrook University.

Filed Under: Brain, Brain & Mind Roundup, Learning, Living, Writing Tagged With: Brain, Cursive, Learning, Mind, Writing

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