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Neurons evaluate the benefit of a habit

03.09.2015

A habit is a deeply rooted form of behavior that works independently of our consciousness: without hesitation, we find our way to the kitchen in the morning and automatically enter the transport or get into the car. It is believed that habitual actions help unload the brain from routine, allowing it to do something more important - more precisely, not the entire brain, but the prefrontal cortex, our main analytical center responsible for higher cognitive functions. The habit itself goes into subcortical structures called the basal ganglia. (Note that we are now talking about harmless behavioral rituals, and not addictions to alcohol, nicotine, etc.)

Ann Graybiel's group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been investigating the neural mechanisms of habit for years. Some time ago, they were able to show that the scheme of routine actions is stored not only in the subcortical regions, but also in the prefrontal cortex, and it is precisely thanks to the cortex that behavioral rituals can be restored, even when it seems that they have already been completely forgotten. As for their appearance, here it was possible to find out that automatisms in behavior are born in the so-called striatum, or striatum, which belongs precisely to the subcortical basal ganglia. Moreover, this is accompanied by changes in electrical rhythms: gamma waves that occur during the development of new information are replaced by beta waves when the material is consolidated.

Experiments with monkeys have shown that about 1 striatal neurons are actively involved in habit formation. Animals viewed a pattern of dots on the screen, and if there was a special, highlighted dot, they received a portion of tasty juice. When the eye stumbled upon the very point (which was programmed by chance), its color changed - this meant that the treat would soon appear. Over time, the eyes of the animals began to repeat the usual route - the monkeys, out of habit, performed the learned action in the hope that a sign of treat appeared there again.

By simultaneously observing the activity of nerve cells, the researchers found that the formation of routine behavior is accompanied by characteristic neural signals, as if indicating the beginning and end of the recorded program. They were especially interested in the second, final signal. At first, it appeared in different periods of time, but then concentrated in the 400-millisecond interval that separated the look at the "reward" point from the reward itself. With the gradual consolidation of the habit, that is, with each repeated action, the activity of nerve cells in the time window became stronger and stronger.

Such a correlation suggested that the final neural activity serves to reinforce the repetitive action, that here the final analysis of whether it is worth assimilating a new behavioral ritual or not takes place. Indeed, it turned out that the design of the final signal depended on such conditions as the time spent on viewing points and the quality of the reward. For example, the less time it took to scan the screen with the pattern with your eyes, the clearer the final signal was formed and the stronger it was. Moreover, some neurons responded only to the time spent searching for the desired point, others only to the reward, and still others took into account both parameters.

In other words, every habit has a price, and there is a special system in the brain that compares the benefits of reinforcing a certain pattern of behavior and the costs that a new ritual requires. And the habit will be formed in the event that the benefits from it more than cover the expenditure of time and effort. Of course, the comparison is not always adequate, and, obviously, many neuropsychiatric disorders, which are characterized by obsessive behavior, are associated precisely with an incorrect assessment of the pros and cons of some kind of automatic actions.

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