Force of Habit Burrell 2016

7242019 Force of Habit Burrell 2016

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30 | NewScientist | 16 January 2016

gt

IrsquoM STARING down at my fingers onthe keyboard with some shame anddisappointment I expected them to look

different by now When I set out to write about

habits I vowed to break one of my own ndash bitingmy nails The gnawed tips remind me whateveryone knows old habits die hard

Just why habits are so hard to make andbreak is a long-standing mystery Even sothe prospect of mastering our habits hassuch appeal that plenty of theories aboutthem have evolved Accepted wisdomsuggests for instance that it takes 21 daysto form a new habit or get rid of an old one

Unfortunately therersquos little by way ofevidence to back up such notions But thatis starting to change With advances inneuroscience it is now possible to peer inside

the brain as it goes about its business whichmeans for the first time we are building anaccurate picture of just what happens to braincircuitry when a new habit is formed Wersquoveeven figured out ways to switch habits on andoff with the flick of a switch

The first challenge in understanding habitsis getting to grips with what one actually isIn the vernacular we might refer to habitsas anything from brushing our teeth to badtable manners or smoking

Scientifically habits are defined fairlybroadly as actions performed routinely incertain contexts and situations often

Force of habit

If you master your brainrsquos autopilot systemyou can make a habit of whatever you want

finds Teal Burrell

unconsciously Once a habit is formed youmight think of it like initiating a program thatruns on autopilot making our actions morestreamlined

This process plays a vital part in making oureveryday lives easier imagine if you had togive your full attention to brushing your teethor the commute to work every time you didit ndash life would become exhausting ldquoSo muchof our lives actually wind up being ourhabitual behaviours that alone is amazingrdquosays Ann Graybiel a neuroscientist at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology In factas much as 40 per cent of our daily behaviouris habitual according to Wendy Wood now atthe University of Southern California whotracked student behaviour to see how muchof it fell into this kind of mental autopilotShe found that when students were engagedin well-practised behaviours ndash such as drivingexercising or brushing their teeth ndash they wereoften thinking of something else allowingthem to ruminate and their mind to wander

All this makes sense from a practical

perspective but it also suggests thatsomething changes in the brain when aconscious action turns into a habit

This is one of the questions Graybiel is

studying in her lab Much of her work involvemonitoring the brain activity of rodentsand primates as they learn new activitiesand then repeat them until they eventuallybecome habitual

One of the first things her lab discoveredwas to do with an area of the brain called thestriatum a region important for movementmood and reward After a rat learns to navigata maze and begins to follow the same routeout of habit brainwaves slow down in thispart of the brain Graybiel suspects that thisslowing down indicates the creation of thehabit probably because the brain activity in

that region has become more coordinatedand efficient

In another study when monkeys wererewarded after looking at a series of dotsthey soon learned the optimal strategy ndash thequickest way to look at every dot and get ajuice reward the fastest Again after a certainpoint the firing of the cells in the striatumbecame more coordinated as the monkeysrsquobehaviour shifted to habit

Importantly the studies showed that cellswithin the striatum fire in this way at thebeginning and end of a behaviour as ifsignalling when the autopilot program is

ldquoForty per cent of ourdaily behaviour is habitualfreeing up the mindrdquo

983107OV983109983122 983123TO983122Y



16 January 2016 | NewScientist | 31




turned on and off Graybiel has seen this timeand again in her studies of rats and monkeysldquoBy the time they really learned the habit a lotof the neuronal activity had moved over to

occurring at the beginning and the end of thewhole behaviour as though to package it tomark the onset and offset of behaviourrdquo shesays You might think of this as the brainrsquosequivalent of putting the habitual actionbetween brackets Graybiel calls it ldquochunkingrdquoas a homage to psychologist George Millerrsquosideas about how itrsquos easier to remember lists ofthings if you ldquochunkrdquo them together intodiscrete blocks If you were interrupted whilereciting a phone number says Graybiel yoursquodprobably have to start over because you onlyknow it as a full thing

This chunking of habits is what allows us toavoid wasting valuable brain power on simpleactivities But it also has a downside it makesbreaking bad habits incredibly difficult

The problem comes from assuming that weare always goal-directed motivated people

when we actually donrsquot have conscious accessto our habits says David Neal founder ofCatalyst Behavioral Sciences a consulting firmspecialising in understanding consumersrsquodecision-making and habits For instanceI think I bite my nails to relieve stress and canstop if I want to in truth I bite my nailswithout realising it Simply wanting to stopisnrsquot enough because habits are unconsciousimpulses firmly wired into our brains

Understanding this could contribute inother ways though The striatum helps tochunk habits but Graybiel also suspects theinvolvement of a small brain area called the

infralimbic cortex Previous studies foundthat when animals had this brain arearemoved they either abandoned their habitsor acted in more goal-directed ways

Because neurons within the infralimbiccortex change their firing pattern as habitsare formed and broken Graybiel decided totarget the region with optogenetics a precisetechnique that allows neurons to be turned onand off with flashes of light When the regionwas deactivated the habit was immediatelydisrupted the rats no longer followed theirusual route With time the rats formed a newhabit of running in the other direction until

Graybiel thwarted them again with anotherflash to their infralimbic cortex When she didthey reverted back to their original habit

This raises the intriguing possibility that

targeting this area could help us break badhabits (see ldquoPathological habitsrdquo below right)But optogenetics hasnrsquot been tried on thehuman brain yet Transcranial magneticstimulation ndash which applies small electricalcurrents to the outside of the head ndash is onealternative and it is already being studied fortreating addiction Deep brain stimulation ndashin which an implanted electrode is used toactivate a certain brain region ndash is anotheroption It is currently used to treat depressionand Parkinsonrsquos disease Studies on obsessive-compulsive disorder which is associated withvery persistent behaviours have been mixed

Still right now that doesnrsquot help my nailbiting habit or another aspect of habit that Iwas especially curious about I wanted toknow does the brain distinguish betweenhabits that we want to keep and ones we aretrying to ditch And so as I wanted to stoptaking things like the ability to run forgranted I resolved to keep a gratitude journalevery day

Some evidence about how the brainprocesses good and bad habits comes fromanother of Graybielrsquos experiments ndash a set-upthat mimicked bad ones Rats learned to

navigate a simple maze ndash turn left forchocolate milk say ndash until running this routewas engrained When given chocolate milk

laced with a chemical that made them sick thrats still ran the same route despite having nodesire for chocolate milk anymore Theycouldnrsquot help it ndash it was habitual

Studies of willpower also build on the ideathat the brain doesnrsquot discriminate between

good and bad habits Willpower it seemscomes in limited supply the more we use itduring the day ndash to resist the office doughnutto go the gym when wersquod rather not ndash the morit gets depleted which means wersquore morelikely to give up on later attempts

Fortunately our reserves are restoredovernight so we start with a fresh supply eachday says Richard OrsquoConnor a psychotherapisand author of the book Rewire But when it isin short supply ndash in times of stress orexhaustion for example ndash we fall back on ourhabits whether good or bad As my deadlinesget closer my nails get shorter And itrsquos

perhaps not surprising that during examweeks students find that habits like unhealthsnacking increase But good habits likereading more or exercising also increase

This is because there are two competingsystems in the brain says Neal who studiedthe students during exam weeks a goal-directed system and a habit-forming oneldquoThe goal-directed system is expensive torun it takes effort and lots of mentalresourcesrdquo When it gets tied up as during aweek of exhausting exams the habit systemkicks in But he says ldquothe habit system hasboth good things in it and bad things in it

A hard habit to break even when

you want to stophellip

ldquoWillpower comes in limitedsupply and gets used upduring the dayrdquo C

O R E Y H E N D R I C K S O N A

U R O R A P

H O T O S

P A B L O D

E L R I O S

O T E L O G E T T Y




Biting your nails might be impolite and

unsightly but itrsquos not life-altering orlife-threatening But where do bad habits

become more of a problem

ldquoWe donrsquot yet know how our normal habits

and habitual behaviours relate to the very

insistent behaviours present in addiction

and OCDrdquo says Ann Graybiel at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Therersquos evidence that people with

obsessivendashcompulsive disorder Tourettersquos

syndrome or drug abuse problems have

disruptions in neural circuits between the

cortex and the striatum which are both

involved in habit formation (see main story)

Research has found people with OCD to

be more vulnerable to ldquoslips of actionrdquo ndashunintentionally executing habitual

behaviour And a recent study found that

anorexia might also be an extreme form of

habit the people with anorexia in the study

had stronger neuronal activity in the dorsal

striatum an area that helps regulate habits

With drug use however is gets more

complicated because the neurotoxicity of

drugs also affects the brain So while having

a strong propensity for forming habits

might make you more likely to become

addicted the drug itself might make you

more prone to falling into habit traps

So you get kind of a boost across the boardrdquoldquoPeople fall back on whatever habits are

strongestrdquo says Wood She recently conducteda study in which people who had been trainedto eat healthy foods ate less chocolate evenwhen their willpower was low Chocoholics

on the other hand ate more of it when theirwillpower reserves were depletedWhat makes one habit stronger than

another Most habits start off as goal-directedbehaviours you want a cleaner bedroom soyou make your bed each morning I wanted tobe more grateful so I started a journal But ifdone often enough they become automatic

performed unconsciously And this switchbetween the two can also be seen in the brain

Christina Gremel now at the University ofCalifornia San Diego taught mice to pressa lever for a sugary drink in either a goal-directed way (only when they were hungry)

or a habitual manner (every time they entereda particular room)Next Gremel used optogenetics and

chemical methods to disrupt certain brainareas When a region called the orbitofrontalcortex was inhibited the animals startedacting more habitually pressing for food evenwhen full And when the area was activated

they became more goal drivenGremel has distinguished between the

different parts of the brain responsible forboth systems in mice goal-directed

behaviours rely on the orbitofrontal cortexand a medial part of the striatum (which isanalogous to a region called the caudate inhumans) while habits rely on a lateral partof the striatum (the putamen in humans)

The results hold up in experiments on

people too Sanne de Wit at the University ofAmsterdam in the Netherlands examineddifferences in how often people make ldquoslips ofactionrdquo falling back on habits when they donrsquotintend to like driving towards work when theymeant to drive to the grocery store In thestudy people learned to play a computer gamefor a monetary reward Then the rules of thegame were changed Those who were moreprone to slips of action would continue to hitthe buttons they were used to even if it lostthem money When their brains were scannedthese people had stronger connections

between the putamen and cortex comparedwith people who were better able to remaingoal directed (to adjust to the new rules andkeep earning money) The more goal-directedpeople had stronger connections between thecaudate and cortex

So there are individual differences inhow our brains are wired for habits Tosome the key to making and breaking habitsis understanding these differencesldquoYou lookat all the advice wersquore surrounded by do itfirst thing in the morning start small giveyourself a cheat dayhellip They all worksometimes for some people but they donrsquot

work all the timerdquo says Gretchen Rubinauthor of Better Than Before Mastering the

habits of our everyday livesOrsquoConnor agrees in his book he identifies

factors that may lead to bad habits atendency towards excessive risk-taking orperfectionism for example Like Rubin hestresses that the first step to better habits isgaining self-knowledge and insight into yourpersonality triggers and ingrained responses

We also know that habits are triggered bycertain cues or contexts Indeed it could bethese cues that kick off brain signals that tellthe striatum to ldquoopen bracketsrdquo and begin

PATHOLOGICALHABITS

ldquoThere are individual

differences in how the

brain is wired for habitsrdquo

Resist resisthellip but if

at first you donrsquot

succeed keep trying

until itrsquos a habit

gt




that autonomous behaviour We are driven todo certain things in certain environmentsNeal and Wood studied this by having peoplewatch videos in a cinema or a conferenceroom In both settings the participants weregiven either freshly popped popcorn or week-old popcorn People who were used to eatingpopcorn at the cinema ate more of the stalepopcorn in that setting even when theyadmitted it wasnrsquot very good But in theconference room they didnrsquot eat as muchThe context was essential

So the next step is coming up with a well-

defined plan based on such cues I wanted towrite in my journal at the end of each dayso I put it next to my bed Before I turned outthe light Irsquod write

ldquoPeople who form such simple concreteplans are generally much more effectiverdquosays de Wit Having specific rules also makes iteasier to make good choices even when yourwillpower is low

Clean break

The link between habits and our environmentis also why the best times to break habits or

create new ones are when we go on a tripchange jobs or move house Wood studiedstudentsrsquo habits before and after transferringuniversity and found that they changed habitslike how much they watched television orwent to the gym for better or worse Thecontext got disrupted allowing new habitsto form

And even small changes to routine canhelp ndash like the cue to put my diary by my bedldquoThose little disruptions to the environmentactually make a big difference Itrsquos surprisingrdquosays Neal

For my nail-biting working out a way to

break the cue was harder I needed my fingersto type Neal suggested painting my nails todisrupt the sensory experience It workedfor a bit

But after about a week of painted nails thepolish chipped and I removed it I promised torepaint them soon but before I even realisedit I had bitten them down again

Another tip is not to worry about little slip-ups like this A University College Londonstudy that followed about 100 people as theytried to form new habits found no long-term

consequences to slipping up for a day here orthere So if you diet for a month but then falloff for a day donrsquot take that to mean yoursquovefailed ldquoYou got 30 days of dieting practicebuilt up in your brainrdquo says OrsquoConnor ldquoThatdoesnrsquot go away just because you slippedup on day 31rdquo To prevent slip-ups fromsnowballing Rubin suggests breaking theday into sections That way if you eattoo many doughnuts at a morning meetingyou donrsquot give up and binge for the rest ofthe day Rather you start fresh at noon andtry again

And it gets easier OrsquoConnor promisesldquoWhatever you do yoursquore more likely to do itagain because yoursquove just done itrdquo Willpoweris like a muscle although it can get depletedit also gets stronger with practice

How long do you need to practise forOrsquoConnor says to give it at least three monthswhich is longer than the often-repeatedmantra that it takes 21 days for habits to formThe University College London study foundthat there was huge variation in how long ittook to cement a new habit The average was66 days but it ranged between 18 and 254

My experience backs this up My journallin

habit came easily within a week or twoit was second nature Stopping the nail bitinghowever seems to be on the 254-day paceif that But knowing that it can take monthsmeans Irsquom persevering Besides Irsquove realised ican be hard for everyone Even de Wit admitsbeing unable to stop popping her bubble gumto the chagrin of her partner ldquoUnfortunatelywhen you study habits it doesnrsquot mean youdonrsquot have any bad habitsrdquo she says Writingabout them doesnrsquot guarantee it either 983150

Teal Burrell is a freelance writer who is based in

Washington DC

SCHEDULE IT Figure out when yoursquore going to

perform a new habit and make it part of your day

Consider tying it to something you already do

for instance flossing after you brush your teeth

eating an apple with lunch going to the gym on

your way home from work

BE SPECIFIC If you want to eat fewer sweets

determine rules to take the choice out of it such

as never eating the treats at work or only eating

them if itrsquos a certain day of the week

GO EASY ON YOURSELF Gretchen Rubin author

of Better Than Before says guilt and shame donrsquot

work ldquoPeople who do better are the people who

show themselves compassionrdquo

START NOW The beginning of a new week month

or year can be a popular motivator for changing

habits but as Rubin notes ldquousually the best time

to start is nowrdquo

BE PATIENT Some habits take a long time to make

or break (see main story)

HOW TO MAKE ORBREAK A HABIT

And repeat do

something enough

and changes in

the brain make it

effortless

Y U J I R O T A D A G E T T Y

S O P H I E C H I V E T A G E N C E V U C A M E R A P R E S S































U R O R A P

H O T O S

P A B L O D

E L R I O S

O T E L O G E T T Y



















































PATHOLOGICALHABITS






succeed keep trying


gt








Clean break














Washington DC






















And repeat do

something enough

and changes in

the brain make it

effortless






























U R O R A P

H O T O S

P A B L O D

E L R I O S

O T E L O G E T T Y



















































PATHOLOGICALHABITS






succeed keep trying


gt








Clean break














Washington DC






















And repeat do

something enough

and changes in

the brain make it

effortless





















































PATHOLOGICALHABITS






succeed keep trying


gt








Clean break














Washington DC






















And repeat do

something enough

and changes in

the brain make it

effortless










Clean break














Washington DC






















And repeat do

something enough

and changes in

the brain make it

effortless



Documents

Force of Habit Burrell 2016