![]() ![]() Hence, even a complicated act that demands concentration at first, like finding a piece of chocolate in a maze or backing out of the driveway, eventually becomes an effortless habit. Its evolutionary role is clear and crucial: it allows the brain to save energy and perform common tasks efficiently. This process of turning a sequence of actions into an automatic routine is known as “chunking,” and it forms the basis of all habit formation. When the researchers repeated the experiment, however, they noticed something interesting.Īs the mice gradually learned where the chocolate was and memorized how to get there – go straight, then turn left – their brain activity decreased. They could smell the chocolate and they began searching for it. When the mice were first put in the maze, their brain activity spiked. ![]() Using special equipment, the researchers could monitor the brain activity of the mice as they sniffed their way to the chocolate. The mice had to find their way to a piece of chocolate that’d been placed at the end of a T-shaped maze. In the 1990s, a group of researchers at MIT were studying mice to learn more about how habits are formed in the brain. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |