Mapping The Status Quo Bias in the Human Brain

Original source: SimoleonSense.com .

photo credit: renaissancechambaraHow funny Dan Ariely posted on something  similar, here,” the power of defaults“.

Click Here To Read: Mapping The Status Quo Bias in the Human Brain

Introduction (via ScienceDaily) -
The more difficult the decision we face, the more likely we are not to act, according to new research by UCL scientists that examines the neural pathways involved in ’status quo bias’ in the human brain.

Findings (Via ScienceDaily)
“Whether it’s moving house or changing TV channel, there is a considerable tendency to stick with the current situation and choose not to act, and we wanted to explore this bias towards inaction in our study and examine the regions of the brain involved.”

The results showed a consistent bias towards the default, which led to errors. As the task became more difficult, the bias became even more pronounced. The fMRI scans showed that a region of the brain known as the subthalamic nucleus (STN) was more active in the cases when the default was rejected. Also, greater flow of information was seen from a separate region sensitive to difficulty (the prefrontal cortex) to the STN. This indicates that the STN plays a key role in overcoming status quo bias when the decision is difficult.

Click Here To Read: Mapping The Status Quo Bias in the Human Brain