At work, do you consider yourself a lazy person or rather dynamic and enterprising? The will that we exhibit when it comes to working depends, in large part, on the chemistry of our brain, according to a study just published in the Journal of Neuroscience . Using a brain mapping technique known as positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers found that more diligent people , who are willing to work hard for higher rewards, release more dopamine in areas of the brain related to motivation , specifically the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. On the other hand, "lazy" employees, who work little even if this "laziness" implies a reduction in their income, have high levels of dopamine in a brain area involved in emotions and risk perception: the anterior insula. In other words, the release of dopamine in the insula is related to a lower desire to work , regardless of the economic losses that this implies.
The study is the first to show that dopamine can have opposite effects depending on where it acts and how this explains individual differences in worker behavior. The conclusions will help to understand the motivational disorders implicated in mental illnesses such as depression or addictions.
