Hardwired for laziness? The human brain has to work much harder to avoid sluggish behaviour because evolution favours conserving energy
- Volunteers were shown images of either physical activity or inactivity
- They had to move an avatar toward images of activity and away from inactivity
- Brain scans revealed moving away from lazy images required more mental effort
- This suggests our brains are hardwired to be attracted towards the lazy activity
1
View
comments
Coach potatoes have an excuse for their laziness thanks to a new scientific study which has found that human beings are hardwired to avoid wasting energy.
Evolution favoured sluggish behaviour because this may have given our ancient ancestors an advantage when it came to survival, experts say.
Wasting energy unnecessarily could have left them vulnerable to predators, whereas conserving energy would have afforded them a boost when it came to searching for food, hunting their prey, and fighting off rivals.
Scroll down for video
Coach potatoes have an excuse for their laziness thanks to a new study which has found that humans are hardwired to avoid wasting energy.Evolution favoured sluggish behaviour as this may have given our ancient ancestors an advantage when it came to survival (stock)
HOW DID THE STUDY WORK?
Volunteers were shown images that depicted either physical activity or physical inactivity.
They then controlled an on screen avatar which they had to move as quickly as possible toward the pictures of physical activity and away from the pictures of physical inactivity.
Participants were generally faster at moving toward active pictures and away from lazy pictures, EEG brain scans revealed.
However, moving away from lazy images required their brains to work harder.
This suggests that their brains are hardwired to be attracted toward the lazy activity.
Scientists from the University of British Columbia (UBC), in Vancouver, Canada, say society encourages people to be more physically active.
Yet the latest figures reveal they are actually becoming less active, in what researchers have termed the ‘exercise paradox’.
For their latest study, UBC recruited young adults, placed them in front of a computer screen and gave them control of an on-screen avatar.
Researchers then flashed small images, one a time, that depicted either physical activity or physical inactivity.
Subjects were tasked with moving the on-screen avatar as quickly as possible toward the pictures of physical activity – and away from pictures of physical inactivity and then vice versa.
Meanwhile, electrodes recorded what was happening in their brains.
Participants were generally faster at moving towards the active pictures and away from lazy pictures, but brain-activity readouts called electroencephalograms (EEGs) revealed the latter required their brains to work much harder.
This suggests our brains are hardwired to be attracted toward the lazy activity.
-
Unwashed millennials who are too lazy to do their laundry… Survival of the slacker! Being lazy could help beat… Homo erectus went extinct because they were lazy! Scientists… Laziness is a sign of intelligence: Researchers say people…
Share this article
Researchers asked volunteers to react to simple stick drawings (pictured) depicting scenes of physical inactivity and physical activity, and discovered that brain activity differed depending on the scene
WHAT IS AN EEG AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a recording of brain activity which was originally developed for clinical use.
During the test, small sensors are attached to the scalp to pick up the electrical signals produced when brain cells send messages to each other.
In the medical field, EEGs are typically carried out by a highly trained specialist known as a clinical neurophysiologist.
These signals are recorded by a machine and are analysed by a medical professional to determine whether they’re unusual.
An EEG can be used to help diagnose and monitor a number of conditions that affect the brain.
It may help identify the cause of certain symptoms, such as seizures or memory problems.
More recently, technology companies have used the technique to create brain-computer interfaces, sometimes referred to as ‘mind-reading’ devices.
This has led to the creation and design of a number of futuristic sounding gadgets.
These have ranged from a machine that can decipher words from brainwaves without them being spoken to a headband design that would let computer users open apps using the power of thought.
Study leader Matthieu Boisgontier said: ‘Conserving energy has been essential for humans’ survival, as it allowed us to be more efficient in searching for food and shelter, competing for sexual partners, and avoiding predators.
‘The failure of public policies to counteract the pandemic of physical inactivity may be due to brain processes that have been developed and reinforced across evolution.
‘We knew from previous studies that people are faster at avoiding sedentary behaviours and moving toward active behaviours.
‘The exciting novelty of our study is that it shows this faster avoidance of physical inactivity comes at a cost and that is an increased involvement of brain resources.
‘These results suggest that our brain is innately attracted to sedentary behaviours.’
The research will now look at whether people’s brains can be re-trained.
Mr Boisgontier added: ‘Anything that happens automatically is difficult to inhibit, even if you want to, because you don’t know that it is happening. But knowing that it is happening is an important first step.’
The findings are published in the science journal Neuropsychologia.
Source: Read Full Article