Changing jobs has little to do with, for example, starting to go scuba diving, but if you think about it, both actions have something in common. These are challenges that you may have to face at one point in your life. In both cases, the brain sets in motion a complex neural network to face the new challenge , a sophisticated machinery about which neuroscience is learning more and more information. “The moment we make the decision to change jobs, the brain evaluates short-term rewards against possible long-term losses,” says Manuela Costa, a researcher in cognitive neuroscience at the Center for Biomedical Technology, based in Madrid.
Before deciding, a balance occurs in the mind between the emotional and the rational component. Each of them is related to different brain areas. In the case of emotions, the leading voice is carried by the limbic system, while the most rational part is directed by the prefrontal cortex.
Within the limbic system, the amygdala is a complex structure that has a fundamental role: “It is the emotional archive, both of positive emotions, the case of joy and happiness, as well as fear and the fight and flight reaction,” he explains. José Antonio Portellano Pérez, neuropsychologist and professor in the Department of Psychobiology and Methodology in Behavioral Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid.
Returning to the example of the job change, if you have done it on other occasions and the result has been satisfactory, the amygdala will have archived that action as a positive emotion. If you consider changing companies again, this small area of the brain, the size of an almond, will drive you to do it, because you were successful the previous time. In the event that the previous job change did not meet your expectations, Pepito Grillo will remind you that the previous experience was not good and will make you make the decision with caution.
In this decision-making, another actor enters the scene, the nucleus accumbens , which also has to do with the emotional part, since it is related to the reward that we hope to obtain if we accept the challenge. “There are indications that the nucleus accumbens not only contributes to savoring the reward, but also leads us to look for it more eagerly,” says Macià Buades-Rotger, from the Department of Neurology at the University of Lübeck (Germany) and currently a researcher at the Donders Institute, Radboud University (Holland).
The scientist does not share the label of pleasure center that is usually given to this region, since it is not only activated by receiving a reward, but also when we anticipate it . That can happen in the face of any positive challenge that lies ahead, such as the aforementioned job change or a romantic date. Sometimes, instead, the challenges are neither positive nor pleasant and we see them as a threat, rather than a challenge to overcome. Although in both cases almost the same brain areas are activated, there are some differences.
In a study published in the journal eNeuro , 36 women played an interactive game in which they had to avoid or face an opponent. Buades-Rotger and the rest of the scientists analyzed, with functional magnetic resonances, what was the neural basis of both the aggressive responses and those that avoided the threat on the part of the participants.
“When they decided to face it, the orbitofrontal cortex was activated; while if they preferred to avoid it, the amygdala was activated. Furthermore, when they had decided to confront it and the threat was imminent, the midbrain was activated ”, summarizes the researcher. This upper structure of the brainstem is the one that initiates the physiological and motor response to face danger.
In any case, not all people respond equally to threats, because even something negative for some may be seen less seriously by others . Ana Belén Calvo, director of the master’s degree in General Health Psychology at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR), gives the dreaded exams as an example. Although it is the same stimulus for all students, those who have not studied or failed in previous tests will face them differently than those students who review every day and have good previous grades.
In both profiles, in addition to the nervous system, the endocrine system plays an important role. “When we evaluate a situation as threatening or stressful, our body reacts by secreting a hormone called cortisol,” says Calvo. The one also known as hydrocortisone is closely related to stress and, at first, when generating it in threatening situations, it produces a state of activation in front of that stimulus that would allow us, for example, to flee. However, if it is sustained over time, it is detrimental.
Here it is convenient to differentiate between positive stress or eustress– and negative stress or distress . The first is beneficial and appears when we face a challenge that motivates us. On the contrary, distress can last over time and lead to mental and physical problems, such as anxiety, increased blood pressure and insomnia.
“Stress is a process that begins when a person values a situation as threatening and initiates a cognitive evaluation of how to deal with it,” clarifies Calvo. Only when the situation exceeds the capacity of control of that person negative consequences occur, and this is what is called, in the field of medicine, distress.
Other times the threat is much more than a negative challenge. “If there is a catastrophe, an accident or an imminent danger, the brain evaluates that it is not a situation that it has to face, but one that it has to flee” , points out Ana León Mejías, associate professor of the Department of Psychology of Education and Psychobiology of UNIR.
Taking into account the state of excitement that the brain experiences in the face of challenges, is it positive or negative to face them? The experts consulted to carry out this report agree on the advantages of having an active and agile brain that adapts to the novelties that come our way in life . It is what is known as neuroplasticity , a characteristic that other organs do not have and that makes the mind unique.
“Neuroplasticity is key to learning and memory, and gives the brain the ability to change” , highlights the neuroscientist Sabina Brennan, who has launched the European project Hello Brain (www.hellobrain.eu), with which They have published a website and an app that offer tips for keeping your brain healthy. According to Brennan, who researches at Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland), challenging it is good for the health of the mind, because the satisfaction experienced in mastering a challenge makes you release dopamine and you feel good: more positive and less depressed.
Changing jobs or facing something new “is also good for developing openness to new experiences that is part of the big five model,” adds León Mejías. The big five – or the big five – model is used to describe personality and is summarized in the English word ocean. The o corresponds to the openness factor (openness to new experiences), the ca conscientiousness (responsibility), the ea extraversion (extraversion), the aa agreeableness (kindness) and the na neuroticism (emotional instability).
Despite the positive aspects of opening up to new experiences, challenges involve risks, and not appreciating or minimizing them can be negative for health. Skydiving for some will be reckless, since if any device fails, life itself is at stake; for others, achieving the feat outweighs any danger. It was precisely this fine line between courage and recklessness that a team of researchers from the United States studied.
Using brain images, questionnaires, and analyzes, which they published in the journal NeuroImage , the scientists wanted to find out if there were brain and physiological differences in a group of volunteers who parachuted for the first time.
Pre-jump and post-jump tests revealed that participants with lower limbic and prefrontal balance had lower cortisol levels, less anxiety, experienced a lower sense of risk, and had no fear responses. In this way, the researchers differentiated between two different profiles of paratroopers: the brave, who felt fear but overcame it and jumped; and the reckless, who did not even recognize the danger.
Addictions also play a role in this imbalance when it comes to weighing risk. “The inability to properly assess contexts can lead to behavior that is extremely risk-prone and expose the body to excessive danger, such as drug abuse and compulsive gambling,” Costa argues.
In the case of people addicted to certain substances, they will prefer a high-risk alternative for their own health if it entails a gain that they consider high, such as drug use. “The exaggerated overuse of risky behaviors or challenges can overstimulate the reward circuits to the point of corrupting them” , warns the expert.
As we have seen, advances in neuroimaging techniques have made it possible to know precisely which areas of the brain are activated in the face of challenges. But researchers also use other types of studies to find out how challenging situations influence thinking and behavior.
This is the case of a study co-directed by Thomas Maran, a professor at the Austrian universities of Liechtenstein and Innsbruck. The participants had to observe three fragments of films: one associated with positive stimuli –a sex scene–, one negative –a violent scene– and another neutral.
After seeing them, the volunteers had to answer where certain objects were. “Our research clearly shows that high arousal states impair the ability to acquire implicit spatial and temporal cues, that is, where and when things happen,” maintains Maran, whose article was published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience .
According to the researcher, in challenging situations, focusing on the essentials and paying less attention to the signs that surround them could be a form of adaptation . If we think that our ancestors had to face predators to survive, it makes sense for the brain to focus on the enemy and ignore the secondary elements of the environment. An adaptation that shows how challenges have made us evolve as a species.
“Throughout the two or three million years during which the human brain was built, traveling, as well as running or fighting, has been inherent to our nature,” explains Professor of Human Physiology Francisco Mora in his book Can brain aging be delayed? 12 keys (2010, Alianza Editorial).
Another question that scientists are investigating is how the brain works during old age, and they have discovered that, compared to what was thought until a few years ago, the mind never stops learning or changing. In fact, we continue to produce new neurons, albeit at a much slower rate than during childhood. This process is known as neurogenesis .
The aging brain is still plastic and flexible. “We are never too old to face new challenges,” stresses Brennan. For example, learning a language is a stimulating challenge for anyone, it is not an experience reserved only for children and young people. It is a myth.
Here the cognitive reserve comes into play, a kind of warehouse where we keep the physical and mental activity carried out in stages prior to old age. This reserve can be used in the later stages, when the intellectual demands are superior to the cerebral capacities that are had. “People who do not dare to do anything, who avoid risks or who do not exercise the mind have less cognitive reserve and a much lower cerebral benefit” , compares Portellano Pérez.
As explained by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, the greater this kind of mental capital, the more it will help offset the effects of both aging and Alzheimer’s on our cognitive abilities. Although it must be remembered that this reserve does not act as an antidote to prevent brain diseases or prevent neuronal aging, it is a factor that contributes to delaying possible deterioration , favoring a more resistant neural network.
And how can a greater cognitive reserve be enhanced? As we have seen, taking risks and exercising the mind go in the right direction, something that the Pasqual Maragall Foundation synthesizes in these five activities: reading, playing, learning, testing and changing routines.
Finally, we must not forget that, whatever the age, to continue facing new challenges the brain has two allies: curiosity and emotion . The first is the engine that pushes us to undertake challenges that had never crossed our minds, while the emotion we feel when we achieve them encourages us to continue. Without this couple, humans would not be here today, since our ancestors would not have dared the most difficult challenge of their lives: leaving Africa and colonizing Earth.
