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The findings could help in the understanding of how people make decisions. Many choices involve a waiting period -- playing the stock market, for example, often requires waiting years to get returns. Yet most economic models don't take into account that waiting has its own costs and benefits -- such as the dread sometimes felt waiting for something bad to occur or the eagerness in waiting for a happy event. "The current study shows that anticipation itself becomes part of the consumption pattern," says Kevin McCabe, a neuroscientist and economist at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. "I think if [the findings] hold up, it basically does imply different policies for dealing with losses than the way standard economics models would approach them."
The findings might also help to explain seemingly odd decisions, such as why some people overeat or use addictive drugs, which they know are harmful in the long run. "These findings emphasize the role of immediate emotions rather than abstract trade-offs," says George Lowenstein, an economist and psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University. While scientists aren't yet sure why some people are more likely to overeat or become addicted to drugs, one theory is that they value short-term pleasure over long-term health. But the new study suggests these people may instead be trying to avoid the unpleasantness of waiting, says Lowenstein. "If someone is overeating, it's not that they don't care about being obese. They find it very uncomfortable in the here and now to desist from eating."
Berns and colleagues are now studying different aspects of decision-making, such as how adolescents make choices when faced with rewards and how adults do so when negative consequences are uncertain. Berns points out that the recruiting process for the experiment may have screened out certain types of people, though, such as super-extreme dreaders. "When we told people on the phone that the experiment would involve shocks, many dropped out right then," he says.
McCabe says it would be interesting to see how people with phobias, such as fear of flying or heights, react to dread. "These people do try to avoid the circumstances as long as possible," says McCabe. "It would be interesting to see how this normal circuitry is different in those people's brains."
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Guest (brunascle)
i've read that as a person is thinking about a past event (or image, or sound), the same parts of the brain are activated that were activated when the event first occurred, to the point where it's actually difficult by looking at the brain activity to tell whether the event is a memory or whether it is actually occurring at that time.
i'm wondering if, as the subjects were waiting for the electrical shock, they were reliving a past event in which they were painfully shocked, in which case the same pain receptors would be activated.
Guest (Wade Roush)
If dread about an upcoming experience can be worse than the actual experience, I wonder if the oppposite is true. Can the anticipation of a pleasant event (say, going on a cruise or buying a video iPod) be more intense than the fun of the actual experience? Could this be one explanation for buyer's remorse? I wonder how the researchers at Emory would attack that question.
Guest (Hal Seyle)
The article states that, with dread, the part of the brain dealing with attention is more active and that a banged knee will get less attention if a bear is chasing you. Perhaps the more attention you give to something, the more intense it becomes.
Dread-Forestalling Pain-Treatment
Regarding the article's comment that perhaps overeaters and drug addicts are selecting present comfort rather than considering long-term consequences: The author's did not state (or study) any correlation between pleasure and dread, and I find their speculation a bit unsatisfying, especially as it does not illuminate any treatment path.
What about this: overeating, drug using, smoking and other such behaviors are a way to defend against dread: the dread of being hungry, the dread of mental, emotional, or existential pain; the dread of the physical and mental effects of withdrawal.
From this perspective, a treatment approach could be modeled around established cognitive-behavioral techniques to reduce attention to the anticipated negative experience. In addition, if the dread indeed mimics the actual experience, then, for instance, the overeater is not just forestalling the feeling of hunger, he or she is actually alleviating the feeling of hunger generated not by actual experience, but by dread.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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Guest (Rick)
Dread, fear, anxiety
This article claims that brain activity is different for dread than for fear or anxiety. But in the dictionary, fear and anxiety are often mentioned in the definition of dread. What's the difference between these emotions? Is it the intensity of emotion?
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Libbywilder
2 Comments
Re: Dread, fear, anxiety
I fear that you may be confusing the linguistic definitions of dread, fear, and anxiety, with the technical definitions used (and specifically defined) in this research project. In everyday life we use these terms to express subjective or objective experiences and our listener generally understands our communication. Researcj requires a much more rigorous definition in order to measure accurately the results of the research effort. In this case, brain activity differs (as reflected in the fMRI results) for dread, fear, and anxiety, providing a way to define and measure specific reactions with specific stimuli.
Why make these distinctions between everyday language and (for want of a better term) scientific language?
Example: 1) You are going to the dentist for a root canal. You share with your friend that you are dreading the experience. Your friend pats you on the back and reassures you and you feel better. 2) You are part of a research study for a pharmaceutical firm. They have developed one medication to reduce fear and one to reduce dread. To determine the best medication for your situation, the researchers need to know, not your subjective description, but the brain activity to which the medication will be targeted.
I hope my reply is helpful.
Libby Wilder
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