Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly
\nlooking for ways to save effort. Left to its own devices, the brain will
\ntry to make almost any routine into a habit, because habits allow our
\nminds to ramp down more often. This effort-saving instinct is a huge
\nadvantage. An efficient brain requires less room, which makes for a
\nsmaller head, which makes childbirth easier and therefore causes
\nfewer infant and mother deaths. An efficient brain also allows us to
\nstop thinking constantly about basic behaviors, such as walking and
\nchoosing what to eat, so we can devote mental energy to inventing
\nspears, irrigation systems, and, eventually, airplanes and video games.
\nBut conserving mental effort is tricky, because if our brains power
\ndown at the wrong moment, we might fail to notice something
\nimportant, such as a predator hiding in the bushes or a speeding car as
\nwe pull onto the street. So our basal ganglia have devised a clever
\nsystem to determine when to let habits take over. It\u2019s something that
\nhappens whenever a chunk of behavior starts or ends.
\nTo see how it works, look closely at the graph of the rat\u2019s
\nneurological habit again. Notice that brain activity spikes at the
\nbeginning of the maze, when the rat hears the click before the partition
\nstarts moving, and again at the end, when it finds the chocolate.
\nThose spikes are the brain\u2019s way of determining when to cede
\ncontrol to a habit, and which habit to use. From behind a partition, for
\ninstance, it\u2019s difficult for a rat to know if it\u2019s inside a familiar maze or
\nan unfamiliar cupboard with a cat lurking outside. To deal with this
\nuncertainty, the brain spends a lot of effort at the beginning of a habit
\nlooking for something\u2014a cue\u2014that offers a hint as to which pattern to
\nuse. From behind a partition, if a rat hears a click, it knows to use the
\nmaze habit. If it hears a meow, it chooses a different pattern. And at
\nthe end of the activity, when the reward appears, the brain shakes
\nitself awake and makes sure everything unfolded as expected.
\nThis process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a
\ncue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and
\nwhich habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or
\nmental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your
\nbrain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the
\nfuture:
\nTHE HABIT LOOP
\nOver time, this loop\u2014cue, routine, reward; cue, routine, reward\u2014
\nbecomes more and more automatic. The cue and reward become
\nintertwined until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving
\nemerges. Eventually, whether in a chilly MIT laboratory or your
\ndriveway, a habit is born.
\n\u25cf\u25cf\u25cf
\nHabits aren\u2019t destiny. As the next two chapters explain, habits can be
\nignored, changed, or replaced. But the reason the discovery of the
\nhabit loop is so important is that it reveals a basic truth: When a habit
\nemerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making. It
\nstops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So unless you
\ndeliberately fight a habit\u2014unless you find new routines\u2014the pattern
\nwill unfold automatically.
\nHowever, simply understanding how habits work\u2014learning the
\nstructure of the habit loop\u2014makes them easier to control. Once you
\nbreak a habit into its components, you can fiddle with the gears.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve done experiments where we trained rats to run down a maze
\nuntil it was a habit, and then we extinguished the habit by changing
\nthe placement of the reward,\u201d Ann Graybiel, a scientist at MIT who
\noversaw many of the basal ganglia experiments, told me. \u201cThen one
\nday, we\u2019ll put the reward in the old place, and put in the rat, and, by
\ngolly, the old habit will reemerge right away. Habits never really
\ndisappear. They\u2019re encoded into the structures of our brain, and that\u2019s
\na huge advantage for us, because it would be awful if we had to relearn
\nhow to drive after every vacation. The problem is that your brain can\u2019t
\ntell the difference between bad and good habits, and so if you have a
\nbad one, it\u2019s always lurking there, waiting for the right cues and
\nrewards.\u201d
\nThis explains why it\u2019s so hard to create exercise habits, for instance,
\nor change what we eat. Once we develop a routine of sitting on the
\ncouch, rather than running, or snacking whenever we pass a doughnut
\nbox, those patterns always remain inside our heads. By the same rule,
\nthough, if we learn to create new neurological routines that overpower
\nthose behaviors\u2014if we take control of the habit loop\u2014we can force
\nthose bad tendencies into the background, just as Lisa Allen did after
\nher Cairo trip. And once someone creates a new pattern, studies have
\ndemonstrated, going for a jog or ignoring the doughnuts becomes as
\nautomatic as any other habit.
\nWithout habit loops, our brains would shut down, overwhelmed by
\nthe minutiae of daily life. People whose basal ganglia are damaged by
\ninjury or disease often become mentally paralyzed. They have trouble
\nperforming basic activities, such as opening a door or deciding what to
\neat. They lose the ability to ignore insignificant details\u2014one study, for
\nexample, found that patients with basal ganglia injuries couldn\u2019t
\nrecognize facial expressions, including fear and disgust, because they
\nwere perpetually uncertain about which part of the face to focus on.
\nWithout our basal ganglia, we lose access to the hundreds of habits we
\nrely on every day. Did you pause this morning to decide whether to tie
\nyour left or right shoe first? Did you have trouble figuring out if you
\nshould brush your teeth before or after you showered?
\nOf course not. Those decisions are habitual, effortless. As long as
\nyour basal ganglia is intact and the cues remain constant, the
\nbehaviors will occur unthinkingly. (Though when you go on vacation,
\nyou may get dressed in different ways or brush your teeth at a different
\npoint in your morning routine without noticing it.)
\nAt the same time, however, the brain\u2019s dependence on automatic
\nroutines can be dangerous. Habits are often as much a curse as a
\nbenefit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Part A’: https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/habits-are-often-as-much-a-curse-as-a-benefit-part-a-2730a\/?lang=en<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The power of habit<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n CHARLES DUHIGG<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort. Left to its own devices, the brain will try to make almost any routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often. 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