DOMINATIONthe desire and control circuits originate. Next they asked the partici-
pants to find ways to motivate themselves. They suggested a number of
strategies, such as telling themselves, “You can do it!” They encouraged
the participants to be creative and use whatever they thought would be
most motivating. Some people imagined coaches encouraging them.
Others imagined situations in which their efforts were rewarded. All
the while, they lay in the brain scanner, and the scientists watched what
happened in the motivation region of their brains. They were surprised
at what they saw: nothing happened. Although getting money worked,
when participants tried to do it on their own, they failed.
Next, the scientists gave them a little help in the form of biofeed-
back, which is when a person is provided information on how their
body and brain are functioning. This information helps them find effec-
tive ways to take control of things that are usually unconscious. The
best-known form of biofeedback is for relaxation. A device that mea-
sures tiny amounts of sweat is attached to a person’s finger. The less
sweat, the greater the relaxation. The signal is expressed as a tone, and
the user tries to manipulate the tone in the direction of relaxation. It
works.
In the motivation experiment, the participants were shown a ther-
mometer with two lines. One showed the current level of activity in
the motivation region, and the other represented a higher target they
should try to achieve. Now they could see which strategies worked and
which ones didn’t. After a while, they built up a collection of imagined
scenes that effectively boosted motivation activity. These strategies con-
tinued to work even when the thermometer was removed. Strength-
ening willpower was possible, but it required a high-tech window that
allowed the test participants to look deep inside their brains.
DOPAMINE VERSUS DOPAMINEEven though it’s possible to strengthen willpower, it’s still not the answer
to long-term, enduring change. So what does work? That question is
of great interest to clinicians who help people struggling to overcome