At times, you need to control some of your much desired activities; you otherwise would have not given a second thought for! But, how do you control it? Habit? ‘Self-control’ is not built just out of habit - but is physiologically regulated! Yes, it’s all in your brain.
It has been found that the area of the brain, which is predominantly responsible for self-control functions, is separated completely from the area linked with ‘taking action.’
Spotting of this new functioning area of the brain eventually reveals a very important brain’s aspect of controlling of behavior - i.e. the capability to control doing something even after developing the intention to do it.
The study eventually widens the horizon of understanding the ‘neural basis for decision making’ i.e. ‘free will.’ Thus, it may help explain some individuals’ being impulsive while others are distinctly found to be reluctant to act.
Martha Farah, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania said,
It is very important to identify the circuits that enable ‘free won’t’ because of the many psychiatric disorders for which self-control problems figure prominently-from attention deficit disorder to substance dependence and various personality disorders.
Can the inhibitory process operate in the brief time period from the time of conscious intention to the point of no return for motor output? To find this, scientists plan studies, which will be conducted using methods with a better time resolution like EEG.
Image: Max Planck Instiute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
