Failure May Become the Best Teacher for Your Brain: University of Southern California

In certain circumstances, when we get enough information to contextualize the choices, then our brain essentially reaches towards the reinforcement mechanism.

Researchers from University of Southern California have revealed that if your brain gets a chance to learn from its mistakes, it will turn failures in life into positive experiences.

Scientists have long understood that the brain has two ways of learning.

Brain Exercises to Improve Memory
An active brain can certainly help in improving memory by strengthening the connections between neural impulses in brain.

One is avoidance learning which is a punishing, negative experience that trains the brain to avoid repeating mistakes.

The other is reward-based learning, a positive, reinforcing experience in which the brain feels rewarded for reaching the right answer.

"We show that in certain circumstances, when we get enough information to contextualize the choices, then our brain essentially reaches towards the reinforcement mechanism, instead of turning toward avoidance," explained Giorgio Coricelli, associate professor of economics and psychology at University of Southern California.

Brain Food
It is a myth that the brain quits generating new cells once you reach adulthood. They are regenerating all the time.

For the study, researchers engaged 28 young people in a series of questions that challenged them to maximize their gains by providing the right answers.

If they chose a wrong answer, they lost money, while right answers helped them earn money.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Linked to Traumatic Brain Injury
The most persistent consequences of TBI include ADHD-like symptoms, such as memory and attention impairment, deficits in executive functions and impulsive behavior.

One trial prompted their brains to respond to getting the wrong answer with avoidance learning.

A second trial prompted a reward-based learning reaction and a third trial tested whether participants had learned from their mistakes.

Single Protein In Brain Could Be The Reason Why Humans Are The Smartest
The change in a protein called PTBP1 could have fueled the evolution of mammalian brains to become the largest and most complex among vertebrates.

In that third round, the participants responded positively, activating areas in their brains that some scientists call the "reward circuit".

This experience mimicked the brain's reward-based learning response - as opposed to an avoidance-learning response.

This process is similar to what the brain experiences when feeling regret: "With regret, for instance, if you have done something wrong, then you might change your behavior in the future," the authors noted in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications.

Source-IANS