How the brain decides to make an effort

From deciding to quit hitting the snooze button and get out of bed in the morning to opting to switch off the TV and prepare for sleep at night, the mind weighs the costs versus benefits of each choice we make. A new study reveals the mechanics of how the brain makes such effortful decisions, calculating whether it is worth expending effort in exchange for potential rewards.

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I always make an effort, because I can be arsed doing it properly.

> the brain’s ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

Interesting.

> Previous research had observed three brain regions in decision-making; the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the anterior insula (aI) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC).

OK.

> In the real world, however, we usually have to make decisions based on incomplete information

Not “usually” so much as “always”.

> The results revealed a clear role for the vmPFC in encoding an expected reward before all information had been revealed.

That’s because it has a role in computation, as the article said was already known.

Here’s a picture of the vmPFC, dACC and aI.

read that

mine’s telling me to check the wood shed, the ready-cut-stumps supply, but it has an idea there is probably enough, though there is some uncertainty.

i’ll resolve the uncertainty shortly.

the motivation is the discomfort of being cold and uncomfortable.

i’m thinking some ancestors, way back before the electric bar heater, that didn’t breed so well, might’ve given it less attention. Failed the task somehow, and here I am get-wood-and-burn-it man.

transition said:

read that

mine’s telling me to check the wood shed, the ready-cut-stumps supply, but it has an idea there is probably enough, though there is some uncertainty.

i’ll resolve the uncertainty shortly.

the motivation is the discomfort of being cold and uncomfortable.

i’m thinking some ancestors, way back before the electric bar heater, that didn’t breed so well, might’ve given it less attention. Failed the task somehow, and here I am get-wood-and-burn-it man.

Wood warms you thrice. The statisticians never really count that.