Sara S
03-16-2012, 04:44 PM
from delancyplace.com:
In today's excerpt - when a habit is formed, that activity is governed by your basal
ganglia cells, in a region completely separate from the primary cognitive areas
of your brain. That's why you can brush your teeth or give someone your phone number
without giving it the slightest thought, and while thinking intensely about something
completely different:
"The process in which the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic
routine is known as 'chunking,' and it's at the root of how habits form. There
are dozens - if not hundreds - of behavioral chunks that we rely on every day. Some
are simple: You automatically put toothpaste on your toothbrush before sticking
it in your mouth. Some, such as getting dressed or making the kids' lunch, are a
little more complex.
"Others are so complicated that it's remarkable a small bit of tis*sue that evolved
millions of years ago can turn them into habits at all. Take the act of backing
your car out of the driveway. When you first learned to drive, the driveway required
a major dose of concen*tration, and for good reason: It involves opening the garage,
unlock*ing the car door, adjusting the seat, inserting the key in the ignition,
turning it clockwise, moving the rearview and side mirrors and checking for obstacles,
putting your foot on the brake, moving the gearshift into reverse, removing your
foot from the brake, mentally estimating the distance between the garage and the
street while keeping the wheels aligned and monitoring for oncoming traffic, calculating
how reflected images in the mirrors translate into actual distances between the
bumper, the garbage cans, and the hedges, all while applying slight pressure to
the gas pedal and brake, and, most likely, telling your passenger to please stop
fiddling with the radio. Nowadays, however, you do all of that every time you pull
onto the street with hardly any thought. The routine occurs by habit.
"Millions of people perform this intricate ballet every morning, unthinkingly, because
as soon as we pull out the car keys, our basal ganglia kicks in, identifying the
habit we've stored in our brains re*lated to backing an automobile into the street.
Once that habit starts unfolding, our [primary] gray matter is free to quiet itself
or chase other thoughts, which is why we have enough mental capacity to realize
that Jimmy forgot his lunchbox inside.
Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly look*ing for ways
to save effort. Left to its own devices, the brain will try to make almost any
routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often. This
effort-saving instinct is a huge advan*tage. An efficient brain requires less room,
[and] ... also allows us to stop thinking constantly about basic behaviors so we
can devote mental energy to inventing ... video games. ...
"This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger
that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there
is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is
a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering
for the future. Over time, this loop-cue, routine, reward; cue, routine, reward-becomes
more and more automatic. The cue and reward become intertwined until a powerful
sense of anticipation and crav*ing emerges. Eventually a habit is born.
"Habits aren't destiny. [They] can be ignored, changed, or replaced. But the reason
the discovery of the habit loop is so important is that it reveals a basic truth:
When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision mak*ing. It
stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So un*less you deliberately
fight a habit - unless you find new routines - the pattern will unfold automatically.
However, simply understanding how habits work - learning the structure of the habit
loop - makes them easier to control. Once you break a habit into its components,
you can fiddle with the gears."
Author: Charles Duhigg
Title: The Power of Habit
Publisher: Random House
Date: Copyright 2012 by Charles Duhigg
Pages: 17-20
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
by Charles Duhigg by Random House
Hardcover ~ Release Date: 2012-02-28
In today's excerpt - when a habit is formed, that activity is governed by your basal
ganglia cells, in a region completely separate from the primary cognitive areas
of your brain. That's why you can brush your teeth or give someone your phone number
without giving it the slightest thought, and while thinking intensely about something
completely different:
"The process in which the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic
routine is known as 'chunking,' and it's at the root of how habits form. There
are dozens - if not hundreds - of behavioral chunks that we rely on every day. Some
are simple: You automatically put toothpaste on your toothbrush before sticking
it in your mouth. Some, such as getting dressed or making the kids' lunch, are a
little more complex.
"Others are so complicated that it's remarkable a small bit of tis*sue that evolved
millions of years ago can turn them into habits at all. Take the act of backing
your car out of the driveway. When you first learned to drive, the driveway required
a major dose of concen*tration, and for good reason: It involves opening the garage,
unlock*ing the car door, adjusting the seat, inserting the key in the ignition,
turning it clockwise, moving the rearview and side mirrors and checking for obstacles,
putting your foot on the brake, moving the gearshift into reverse, removing your
foot from the brake, mentally estimating the distance between the garage and the
street while keeping the wheels aligned and monitoring for oncoming traffic, calculating
how reflected images in the mirrors translate into actual distances between the
bumper, the garbage cans, and the hedges, all while applying slight pressure to
the gas pedal and brake, and, most likely, telling your passenger to please stop
fiddling with the radio. Nowadays, however, you do all of that every time you pull
onto the street with hardly any thought. The routine occurs by habit.
"Millions of people perform this intricate ballet every morning, unthinkingly, because
as soon as we pull out the car keys, our basal ganglia kicks in, identifying the
habit we've stored in our brains re*lated to backing an automobile into the street.
Once that habit starts unfolding, our [primary] gray matter is free to quiet itself
or chase other thoughts, which is why we have enough mental capacity to realize
that Jimmy forgot his lunchbox inside.
Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly look*ing for ways
to save effort. Left to its own devices, the brain will try to make almost any
routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often. This
effort-saving instinct is a huge advan*tage. An efficient brain requires less room,
[and] ... also allows us to stop thinking constantly about basic behaviors so we
can devote mental energy to inventing ... video games. ...
"This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger
that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there
is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is
a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering
for the future. Over time, this loop-cue, routine, reward; cue, routine, reward-becomes
more and more automatic. The cue and reward become intertwined until a powerful
sense of anticipation and crav*ing emerges. Eventually a habit is born.
"Habits aren't destiny. [They] can be ignored, changed, or replaced. But the reason
the discovery of the habit loop is so important is that it reveals a basic truth:
When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision mak*ing. It
stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So un*less you deliberately
fight a habit - unless you find new routines - the pattern will unfold automatically.
However, simply understanding how habits work - learning the structure of the habit
loop - makes them easier to control. Once you break a habit into its components,
you can fiddle with the gears."
Author: Charles Duhigg
Title: The Power of Habit
Publisher: Random House
Date: Copyright 2012 by Charles Duhigg
Pages: 17-20
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
by Charles Duhigg by Random House
Hardcover ~ Release Date: 2012-02-28