Mental Health

Failure Can Activate Brain's Reward Circuits

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Aug 26, 2015 01:42 AM EDT

Failure can actually feel rewarding, according to a new MRI study.

Researchers from the University of Southern California said that latest findings suggest that the opportunity to learn from failure can feel good when the brain learns from its mistakes.

"We show that, in certain circumstances, when we get enough information to contextualize the choices, then our brain essentially reaches towards the reinforcement mechanism, instead of turning toward avoidance," researcher Giorgio Coricelli, a USC Dornsife associate professor of economics and psychology, said in a news release.

The latest study involved 28 participants who underwent three experiments. One experiment primed participants brains to respond to getting the wrong answer. Another experiment primed participants with positive, reinforcing experience with correct answers. The last experiment allowed participants to review and understand what they got wrong.

Study result revealed that participants in the last experiment responded positively. MRI scans revealed that learning from mistakes activated the "reward circuit" or "ventral striatum" of the brain.

"With regret, for instance, if you have done something wrong, then you might change your behavior in the future," Coricelli concluded.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

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