"The reason why someone just can't seem to get started isn't a mere failure of willpower: it is rooted in neurobiology. In a new paper published in Current Biology, researchers describe a circuit in the brains of macaque monkeys that appears to function as a motivation brake, a finding that could offer clues to why people hesitate in making certain decisions."
"As one might expect, the monkeys took longer to do the task when it meant getting the uncomfortable puff of air. Then, using a technique called chemogenetics, whereby scientists can use drugs to control specific brain cells, the researchers suppressed a circuit between two brain regions called the ventral striatum and the ventral pallidumboth are known to be involved in motivation."
Macaque monkeys performed tasks that delivered either a reward or a reward plus an aversive air puff. Monkeys delayed initiating tasks that predicted the air puff, indicating hesitation for unpleasant outcomes. Chemogenetic suppression of the circuit linking the ventral striatum and ventral pallidum reduced that hesitation and sped task initiation despite expected air puffs. The ventral striatum–ventral pallidum pathway functions as a neural brake on motivation for actions with aversive consequences. Understanding this mechanism could inform explanations for human reluctance and potential targets for motivation-related conditions.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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