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When a person is extremely nervous and anxious, the body will unconsciously speed up the heartbeat, increase blood pressure, and shortness of breath
.
At this time, it is often possible to make some bad decisions
Recently, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) revealed the neural mechanism by which faster heartbeat affects brain judgment
.
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the United States analyzed the neural activity of macaques and found that neurons in the brain that specifically monitor the basic state of the body such as heart rate and respiration actually "hijack" the brain to make decisions The process
Scientists collectively refer to a series of alert states such as rapid heartbeat and increased blood pressure as arousal of the body
.
Generally speaking, a certain level of arousal, such as a cup of coffee, helps to improve decision-making performance
Researchers have done experiments on three macaques, and asked them to decide between two options, and they will get different amounts of juice
.
Unsurprisingly, the monkeys always choose to get more juice
▲Experimentally trained monkeys to choose between two patterns.
They will always choose the pattern with the larger reward.
The time it takes to make a decision is related to the heart rate (picture source: reference [1])
While the monkeys are making decisions, the researchers also analyzed their brain activity.
They recorded the electrical activity of neurons in two brain regions responsible for decision-making, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (dACC).
Activity
.
They found that although most of the neurons in the two brain regions are mainly involved in the decision-making process, and their activity status is related to the reward for the decision made, there are about 1/6 of the two decision-making centers in the brain.
However, a faster heartbeat does not necessarily help the brain to make decisions.
When the heartbeat is extremely fast-when the body is in a highly aroused state, it will increase the chance of the brain slowing down or making wrong decisions
.
In order to confirm what happens in a highly aroused state, the researchers conducted another experiment
.
They surgically shut down the amygdala, the emotional center of the monkey's brain, causing the monkey's heart rate to increase 15 times per minute
Looking further at their brain neural activity, the researchers found that the highly aroused state also seems to change the role of neurons in the decision-making process
.
In the two decision-making brain regions, the number of neurons responsible for decision-making has decreased, while the number of neurons that monitor the internal state of the body has increased slightly
▲ Schematic diagram of neural activity of the brain decision center: the neurons responsible for decision-making on "value" and "direction" are affected by neurons that monitor body states such as "heartbeat" (picture source: reference [2]; Credit: Rudebeck lab, Mount Sinai, NY)
This change means that in situations such as anxiety, addiction or certain mental illnesses, a highly aroused body state will "hijack" the decision-making circuit in the brain and affect the higher-level functions of the brain
Note: The original text has been deleted
Reference materials:
[1] Atsushi Fujimoto et al.
[2] Study Shows How a Racing Heart May Alter Decision-Making Brain Circuits.
Retrieved Sep.
1, 2021 from https:// heart-may-alter-decision-making-brain-circuits
