A new study sheds light on the brain mechanisms that make alcohol or fatty and sugary food “irresistible” to us, especially when we are stressed.
Have you ever tried to push back a sudden craving for ice cream, fries or a glass of beer before “breaking down” because it was too hard to resist?
You are far from being the only one. The impact of these stimuli on the brain has even been the subject of many neuroscientific studies which have shown that addiction to certain foods activates certain areas of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex and the thalamus by acting on the reward circuit.
But until now, scientists didn’t know how well our brains were able to control these stimuli. A new study led by researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and published in the journal Psychological Science, has just revealed that we are well able to fend off unwanted reward signals that can trigger cravings and addiction. And we do this by using our brain’s executive control processes.
However, if we are stressed or tired, we will probably find it more difficult to ignore all the environmental stimuli around us, which makes us more likely to “break down”. “We have a set of control resources that guide us and help us suppress these unwanted reward signals. But when these resources are taxed, they become increasingly difficult to ignore,” says Poppy Watson, lead author of the works.
The impact of stress on our willpower
To reach this conclusion, the authors of the study subjected participants to memory and concentration games for money. “To manipulate participants’ ability to control their attentional resources, we asked them to perform this task under high memory load and low memory load conditions,” says Dr. Watson.
The researchers found that in the high memory load version, participants had difficulty concentrating on their task, focusing on details that were counterproductive.
These results thus demonstrate that in order to successfully suppress unwanted reward signals in the environment, they needed full access to the executive control process. Which was not possible in this stressful version of the exercise.
“This is particularly important in situations where people try to ignore the signals and improve their behavior, for example by consuming less alcohol or fast food”, explains the researcher.
resist stimuli
For Dr. Watson, this explains in part why people may find it more difficult to focus on a diet or fight an addiction if they are under a lot of stress.
“Constant worry or stress is the equivalent of the high memory load scenario in our experience, it impacts people’s ability to use their executive control resources in a way that helps them deal with cues undesirable in the environment”.
She also advises being strategic about exposure to stimuli. “If you’re under a lot of cognitive pressure (stress or fatigue), you really should try to avoid situations where you’ll be tempted by cues. You have to be in the right frame of mind to be in a situation where you can keep from being distracted and going down a path you don’t want to go,” she says.
Now, the next step is to understand how executive control can be strengthened and if this presents an opportunity for situations like detox.
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