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Yes, You Can:

New research suggests we can build our willpower

– By Daniel Goleman

Those of us who struggle to resist junk foods or otherwise suffer a lack of willpower will be heartened by some good news from neuroscience. But there’s some bad news, too.

First, the bad news. A slew of studies suggest that we each have a fixed neural reservoir of willpower, and that if we use it on one thing, we have less for others. Tasks that demand some self-control make it harder for us to do the next thing that takes willpower.

In a typical experiment on this effect, one group of people was made to watch a video of a boring scene; another was not. Then both groups had to circle every “e” in a long passage of writing. The result? The people who had to first sit through the boring video gave up faster. The same loss of persistence has been found when people try to resist tempting foods, suppress emotional reactions, or even make the effort to try to impress someone.

This all suggests we have a fixed willpower budget, one we should be careful in spending. Some neuroscientists suspect that self-control consumes blood sugar, which takes a while to build up again; thus, the depletion effect.

But the good news is that we can grow our willpower; like a muscle, the more we use it, the more it gradually increases over time. But doing this takes, of all things, willpower.

As the muscle of will grows, the larger our reservoir of self-discipline becomes. So people who are able to stick to a diet or an exercise program for a few months, or who complete money-management classes, also reduce their impulse-buying, junk food consumption, and alcohol intake. They watch less TV and do more housework. And this ability to delay grasping at gratification, much data shows, predicts greater career success.

This round-up of thinking on willpower comes courtesy of Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang, whose recent book, Welcome to Your Brain, details the evidence about willpower. But, writing in The New York Times, the duo poses a puzzle: While it’s clear that willpower has limits, what brain mechanisms let us build it up?

That question brought to mind a recent conversation I had with Richard Davidson, the director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin. Davidson’s research these days focuses on neuroplasticity—how our experience shapes the brain throughout life. One surprise: though most of us learned that we have a fixed number of brain cells when we are born, and that we lose them steadily until we die, brain science now tells us the brain makes about 10,000 new cells every day, and that they migrate to where they are needed. Once there, each cell makes around 10,000 connections to other brain cells over the successive four months.

Davidson’s research finds that the left prefrontal cortex—the brain’s executive center located just behind the forehead—is a key site for helping us build willpower. Our plans and goals hatch here, and impulses are executed via this zone. There is a neural circuit in the prefrontal cortex that inhibits emotional impulse, and can be strengthened by a range of methods.

One of these methods, Davidson explained to me, is mindfulness training, a secular form of meditation widely used in settings from businesses to outpatient clinics. This is confirmed by a great deal of research. My own doctoral dissertation found (as have many others since) that the practice of meditation seems to speed the rate of physiological recovery from a stressful event. A string of studies have now established that more experienced meditators recover more quickly from stress-induced physiological arousal than do novices.

Research shows that other kinds of training can have similar effects, and the more time we devote to any of these trainings, the greater the result in the targeted areas of the brain. Brain imaging studies show that the spatial areas of London taxi drivers’ brains become enhanced during the first six months they spend driving around that city’s winding streets; likewise, the area for thumb movement in the motor cortex becomes more robust in violinists as they continue to practice over many months. A seminal 2004 article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found that, compared to novices, highly adept meditators generated far more high-amplitude gamma wave activity—which reflects finely focused attention—in areas of the prefrontal cortex while meditating.

And so it makes perfect sense that we can build our willpower over time if we are committed to doing so, a process that changes our brains right down to the cellular level. Simply being consistently self-disciplined seems to help—going to the gym every day for months, or completing projects you begin—and so does mindfulness meditation. There are ways, it seems, to make it easier to “just say no” when we need to.

– Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., is the author of the bestsellers Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence. His website is www.danielgoleman.info. Goleman’s full conversation with Richard Davidson can be heard as part of the audio series Wired to Connect: Dialogues on Social Intelligence, available through More than Sound Productions.

We bring you this post thanks to our collaboration with Greater Good Magazine, a UC-Berkeley-based quarterly magazine that highlights ground breaking scientific research into the roots of compassion and altruism.

Previous columns by Daniel Goleman:

- Should Social-Emotional Learning Be Part of Academic Curriculum?

- When Empathy moves us to Action-By Daniel Goleman

- The Power of Mindsight-by Daniel Goleman

- “Now researchers have found that elderly adults who are more physically fit tend to have bigger hippocampi and better spatial memory than those who are less fit.”

- “Certain activities are believed to modify hippocampus size in humans. For example, a study of London taxi drivers found that the posterior portion of the hippocampus was larger in experienced taxi drivers than in other subjects. And a study of German medical students found that the same region of the hippocampus increased in size as they studied for their final exams.”

- “Studies also have found that the hippocampus shrinks with age, a process that coincides with small but significant cognitive declines. The rate at which this occurs, however, differs among individuals.”

Related articles:

Physical Exercise and Brain Health

Brain Plasticity: How learning changes your brain

1) Brain Health Leaders Team Up to Prevent Crashes.

2) Adults Improve Critical Professional and Personal Skills Through New Cognitive Training Program.

3) Nature Neuroscience Podcast and London Taxi Drivers.

4) What Have You Changed Your Mind About, lately?.

5) The 2008 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute starts accepting applications.

6) The Mind & Life Institute has announced the 2007 Francisco J. Varela Research Award Recipients.

1) Brain Health Leaders Team Up to Prevent Crashes. Quotes:

- Posit Science “has acquired Visual Awareness, Inc., developer of the UFOV(R) assessment and cognitive speed of processing programs.” (Note: Visual Awareness’ program was one of the cognitive interventions used in the ACTIVE trial.)

- “UFOV(R) speed of processing training will become a key component of Posit Science’s visual training program that will be released in early 2008.”

Comment: Given that Posit Science has spent over a year developing a visual processing speed program to complement its existing auditory one, it will be interesting to see how they will integrate 2 separate visual training programs. Please keep tuned: we will soon be publishing an interview with Dr. Karlene Ball, co-Founder of Visual Awareness, and Dr. Jerri Edwards, a collaborator in several published studies.

2) Adults Improve Critical Professional and Personal Skills Through New Cognitive Training Program

- Cogmed “has launched Cogmed QM, a new working memory training program designed especially for adults struggling with inattention due to impaired working memory.”

- “Cogmed’s programs are based on peer reviewed research conducted at Sweden’s renowned Karolinska Institute, which proved that working memory–the ability to keep information in mind for brief periods of time–could be improved through intense, focused training.”

Comment: The program will only be offered through a network of clinical providers, not directly to the consumer, which probably means the cost will be a major obstacle to wider adoption.

3) Nature Neuroscience Podcast and London Taxi Drivers

- “The study found that the size of the hippocampus correlated with the length of time being a taxi driver, suggesting that the extensive training and navigational experience may change and develop the hippocampus.”

Comment: great post and podcast outlining the famous research done on London cab drivers.

4) What Have You Changed Your Mind About, lately?

- “Online chin-scratching club Edge have asked their annual question. This year’s it’s “What have you changed your mind about?” and the respondents include a number of cognitive scientists or people thinking about mind and brain issues.”

- “We’ve listed the psychology and neuroscience-related answers below if you want to cut to the chase (and fixed a few broken links from the original website along the way).”

Comment: enjoy Mind Hacks’ selection and, more importantly, ask yourself: “What Have You Changed Your Mind About, lately?”

5) The 2008 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute starts accepting applications.

- “The purpose of the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute is to advance collaborative research among behavioral scientists, neuroscientists, and biomedical researchers based on a process of inquiry, dialogue, and in some cases, collaboration, with Buddhist contemplative practitioners and scholars and those in other contemplative traditions.”

- “The 2008 Summer Research Institute will be devoted to the theme of attention and emotion regulation. It will bring together researchers in basic science, clinical science, contemplative scholarship and philosophy, and contemplative practice to investigate the relation between attentional processes and emotional self-regulation.” – “In recent years, emotional self-regulation and attention have emerged as central themes in psychology (clinical and developmental) and neuroscience (affective and cognitive), yet little work has been done to link findings about attention in cognitive psychology and neuroscience to findings about emotional self-regulation in clinical and developmental psychology and affective neuroscience. This gap reflects a longstanding separation of cognition and emotion in the brain and cognitive sciences — one that has become increasingly untenable.”

Comment: the more research-based tools for brain health and training, the better. The Mind & Life Institute is doing a great job at building bridges between neuroscientists and meditators, and we are happy to see the focus on 2 critical areas: the training of attention and emotional self-regulation.

6) Finally, The Mind & Life Institute has announced the 2007 Francisco J. Varela Research Award Recipients (list below, couldn’t find any place online to link to).

- Joanna Arch, M.A., C.Phil.,  Different Approaches to Emotion Regulation: MBSR and CBT in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders;   Lab of Michelle Craske, Ph.D., UCLA Anxiety Disorders Behavioral Research Program, Dept. of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles

- Jennifer Daubenmier, Ph.D.,  Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Cell Aging Processes; Lab of Elissa Epel, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco

- Eric Garland, MSW, LCSW, Biopsychosocial Assessment of a Mindfulness-Oriented Treatment of Alcohol Dependence, Lab of Susan Gaylord, Ph.D., Director, Program on Integrative Medicine, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

- Joshua Grant, B.Sc. (Ph.D. in progress), Meditation and Real-time fMRI Training for the Cultivation of Compassion; Lab of Pierre Rainville, Ph.D., Physiology Dept., University of Montreal and the Institute of Geriatric’s  Functional Neuroimaging Unit

- Teresa Hawkes, B.F.A.,  A Randomized Controlled Single-Blinded Pilot Trial to Compare Effects of Concentrative Sitting Meditation to Moving Meditation (Tai Chi) Training on Attentional Network Efficiency;  Lab of  Marjorie Woollacott, Ph.D., University of Oregon Department of Human Physiology

- Britta Hoelzel, Ph.D., Does Mindfulness Training Change the Processing of Social Threat?;  Lab of Sara Lazar, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital

- Elizabeth Hoge, M.D.,  Neuropeptide Levels in Meditation,  Lab of Mark Pollack, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, General Clinical Research Center, Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorder

- Michael Hove, M.A., The Dissolution of Self During Rhythmic Motor Behavior, Labs of Prof. Michael Spivey, Ph.D., Cornell University and Prof. Ed Large, Ph.D.,  Florida Atlantic Universtiy

- Kristen Jastrowski Mano, Ph.D., Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for the Treatment of Pediatric Chronic Pain, Lab of Dr. Steven Weisman, MD and W. Hobart Davies, PhD, Jane B. Pettit Pain and Palliative Care Center, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin

- Anthony King, Ph.D., Efficacy of a 16 week Mindfulness-based Group for Combat PTSD in Recruiting Veterans, and Pilot Effects on Threat Detection and Emotion Regulation Neurocircuitry, Lab of Israel Liberzon, MD (Chief of Psychiatry, Ann Arbor VA), PTSD Clinic director: Nicholas Giardino, Ph.D., Ann Arbor VA Psychiatry Service Clinical research Laboratory, Ann Arbor VA PTSD Clinic, Israel Liberzon, MD biopsychology laboratory, University of Michigan fMRI Center

- Zev Rosen, B.A., Neural Effects of Mindfulness Training on Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder, Lab of Professor Amishi Jha, Ph.D., Attention and Memory Lab at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania

- Baljinder Sahdra, Ph.D.,  Measurement and Correlates of Non-attachment, Lab of Dr. Phillip R. Shaver, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis

- Laura Van Wielingen, M.Sc.,  How does Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Improve Psychological Functioning for Cancer Patients?,  Lab of  Linda E. Carlson, Ph.D., C.Psych., Associate Professor, Department of Psychosocial Resources, Tom Baker Cancer Centre – Holy Cross Site, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

- Anna-leila Williams, PA-C, MPH, Development and Testing of Determinants of Meditation Practice, Lab of Ruth McCorkle, PhD, FAAN, F.S. Wald Professor, Director, Center for Excellence in Chronic Illness Care, Yale University School of Nursing 

- Fadel Zeidan, M.A., The Influence of Meditative Experience on Pain Perception,  Lab of Dr. Nakia Gordon, University of North Carolina-Charlotte Brain Imaging and Analysis Center at Duke University   

We enjoyed the overall level of the essays (you can read them all here), and truly enjoyed reading a beautiful, well-researched and better written essay by Alexandra M, 15. Which, incidentally, quotes from one of our favourite popular science books on the brain, John Ratey’s A User’s Guide to the Brain.

Enjoy!

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March 2, 2007

Alexandra M

It’s Christmas morning, and your brother rushes downstairs to see what “Santa” brought him. The morning goes by in a flurry of colorful wrapping paper and stringy ribbons until all that’s left is a big present in the center of your brother’s lap. The present that “Santa” brought him. As he rips open the paper, “Santa’s” chest swells with pride, he feels good and happy. As the brother runs around screaming about his new remote controlled F-14 Tomcat, “Santa” laughs and cleans up. But why did he feel that way? He had maybe one to every five presents that his brother received. Why? Why does “Santa” not feel jealous? Researchers have found that giving a present to another being actually feels better than receiving the gift. They used an fMRI and studied nineteen people play a game and either received or donated money that they won. The brain, more importantly, our unique frontal lobes, are evolving quicker due to giving from our hearts to other beings. Jordan Grafman, the leader of this happy project, asked nineteen fit volunteers to participate in a computer game while having their brains scanned by an fMRI. An fMRI is a machine that scans the brain for increased blood flow to the different blood vessels that accompany brain usage. The game gave out cash rewards and at the same time asked for donations to charities. They saw, because of the fMRI, that the structures that lit up when people received money were the ones that released Dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that associates with happiness and reward. “Dopamine may be the link between rewarding sensations of pleasure and long term memory” (Ratey). But the interesting thing was that when someone gave to a charity, the same places lit up and were more stimulated then when people receive rewards. This also activated a certain type of neurotransmitter. A neurotransmitter is a chemical messenger from one neuron to another. This neurotransmitter is known as Oxytocin. Oxytocin is a “cuddle” neurotransmitter found everywhere. “…Oxytocin is the attachment phase between the male and female” (Ratey). They found that the activity in the prefrontal cortex, something completely unique to the human race, was busier when people made very large donations. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that is involved in reasoning and decision-making. The most significant part of the research was that they figured out that donating is a learned behavior. “Working memory is a significant part of the executive functioning of the prefrontal cortex” (Ratey). “Tis better to give than receive” is one of the most famous verses in the Christian New Testament, and now it has been proven. Jordan Grafman and his team of scientists have found that giving a present to another being actually feels better than receiving a gift from one. Giving a gift activates your Dopamine and Oxytocin releasers, and prefrontal/frontal lobes and even evolves some of these areas. In the future, we could see if how much we give makes a difference in how much Dopamine or Oxytocin is released into our bodies. We could learn to share in a way that would make everyone feel as happy as giving or receiving the gift.Bibliography

o Gramza, Joyce. “Tis Better to Give than Receive.” ScienCentral Video. 10/17/2006 NINDS and NIH. 2/20/2007

o Ratey, John J. A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Vintage Books, Copyright 1994.

Any suggestions or feedback for Jeffrey and Alexandra?