Gary Again Proven to Be Monkey-Like
Yet more evidence that I have much in common with monkeys:
When faced with work, people tend to adjust their productivity to match the level of reward anticipated - a phenomenon we know, quite simply, as good old procrastination. However, new research indicates that procrastination might just be helping to understand how the brain works, relating the upper-level cognitive functions of thought to the molecular mechanisms of neurons, receptors, and chemicals.
Interestingly, humans aren’t the only procrastinators - other primates, including apes and monkeys, also adjust their behavior based on how much work has been completed, and how much remains. In a recent study, rhesus monkeys were given a simple task to perform. As they repeated the test, a grey bar on the screen, representing their progress, grew longer until it reached across the screen, signaling the completion of the set of tasks. A reward was then given, and the process was repeated. The monkeys did not work hard consistently; rather, they worked harder at the end of a set (when the reward was nearer) than at the beginning of a set, just as humans tend to do.
Scientists had found previously that a specific part of the brain, the rhinal cortex, was necessary for the monkeys to procrastinate; if this region was absent, the monkeys worked at the same rate whether the reward was close at hand or far off in the future. Now, in a new study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the same researchers have shown that this change can be caused by the interaction of a neurotransmitter, dopamine, with a specific neuronal receptor that’s concentrated in the rhinal cortex, the D2 receptor. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that transfer signals in the brain from cell to cell, binding to specific places on the cell surface called receptors. The neurotransmitter dopamine has long been thought to play a role in the perception of reward in the brain, and to highlight significant stimuli presented to the brain. This sort of response happens when you eat, drink, or after exercise.
So does this mean promise for a new “procrastination blocking” drug? Rest assured that no one is attacking your ability to wait until the last minute - although it’s possible that this research will shed new light on how the brain balances the amount of work against the reward received, a balance affected in some mental disorders. The research provides insight into how high level processes - visual cues such as viewing a grey progress bar on a screen - are translated into the molecular mechanisms that allow neurons to transmit their information from one to another. This understanding could help us better understand how a number of diseases, such as Parkinson’s, cause their debilitating symptoms - and thus may shed light on finding a cure.
From Harvard Medical School’s “Science in The News” lecture series.
