Suzanne Ardanowski
Feeling Brain Post
4-22-08
I immediately wanted to read the article titled “Is Optimism Always Best?” because it has always bothered me when people criticize others for being “pessimistic.” I’m not saying that it is particularly comfortable to be around pessimistic people, but I have always felt that there must be a reason why one would behave in such a way. The author’s opinion that “optimism and shifts from optimism serve a similar goal: the need for preparedness” offers a logical reason for such behavior. Preparedness is defined as “a goal state of readiness to respond to uncertain outcomes.” If one feels pessimistic, then we can deduce that they feel anxious, and feel the need to perhaps minimize to avoid feeling disappointed or caught off guard. This is not necessarily a “bad” or “negative” thing. I also thought the idea of pessimism being linked to magical thinking was interesting in a cultural sense. We do often avoid talking optimistically about something for fear of “jinxing” the outcome. Research also shows that people tend to shift from optimism when the outcome is very personal and/or mostly out of their control. It would be interesting to see if a study like this has been conducted in other countries, because I do think optimism/pessimism is, to some extent, learned. Both are necessary, but balance seems to be the key.
I really enjoyed reading the “Fool me once, shame on me-fool me twice, blame the ACC” because it really got me thinking about addictive and compulsive behavior. The study showed that the monkeys with the ACC lesions could change their behavior on a single trial, but could not sustain their new response, despite the fact that the reward was connected to the new response. The authors note that changing behavior in response to changing rewards could be a separate process from consolidating behavior to a new strategy. I can definitely see the correlation to addiction, and helps explain why people continue to do things that they know are not good for them or lack rewards. However, with unhealthy addictions, aren’t there immediate rewards, but long-term losses? I guess this should still motivate people to change their behavior. However, concepts such as impulse control, pleasure seeking, relieving anxiety, and chemical dependency are also important to consider when discussing addictions and compulsive behavior. This study clearly speaks to how the brain can continue to behave according to old patterns and illustrates how difficult change is. The specific discovery that the ACC is connected to depression, anxiety disorders, OCD, and addiction opens many doors for treatment. Have they found that the ACC in humans is impaired in some way, thus contributing to these disorders? If so, in what way is it impaired?
1 comment:
I too found both of these articles particularly interesting. In looking specifically at these two articles and the Schacter article, it seems clear that the anterior cingulated cortex is directly linked to optimism. In looking at the Sweeny and Hayden articles, it seems that the ACC could possibly cause the inability to shift from pessimism to optimism… The capuchin monkeys used in the Hayden and Platt article do not have the ability to “be realistic”. Regardless of the new information they receive, they are unable to take the new information of turn=reward and to maintain the new rewarded behavior. Could it be said that they are unable to shift their expectations? It is clear in the Sweeny article that gaining new information is one of the causes of a shift from pessimism to optimism. With the monkey article you could use the lift action to talk about shifting expectations. (It seems to me that optimism and pessimism are rooted in expectation..) The lift action is rewarded initially so the expectation is that lift will cause reward. Here lift is linked with optimism. However, when lift does not equal reward the action is changed and rewarded but not maintained. Due to the lesion in the ACC, the expectation is not altered. Lift is still linked with optimism. It seems that the ACC is responsible for the ability to shift expectations.
Initially I wasn’t sure this could align with the Schacter article. It seemed here that the ACC was linked with depression (pessimism). However, could it not be that this same brain area is linked with over optimism. If this is the case, then it could be said that the ACC is the area that facilitates the ability to take new information and alter expectation/mood/state/etc. Is depression not much like the overoptimistic “lift” action of the capuchin monkeys? The inability to take new information and allow it to alter outlook seems directly aligned.
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