Whether you're navigating a job interview, meeting someone for the first time, or responding to an unexpected challenge, success often depends on your ability to adjust your behavior. In some situations, adapting quickly can even be critical for survival.
But how does the brain know when it's time to abandon an old strategy and try something new?
A new study published in Nature Communications sheds light on that question. Neuroscientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have identified a key brain mechanism that helps animals adapt when circumstances suddenly change. The findings could improve our understanding of conditions that make it difficult to break habits, including addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and Parkinson's disease.
"The brain mechanisms behind changing behaviors have remained elusive, because adapting to a given scenario is very neurologically complex. It requires interconnected activity across multiple areas of the brain," explains co-author Professor Jeffery Wickens, head of the Neurobiology Research Unit at OIST.
"Previous work has indicated that cholinergic interneurons, brain cells that release a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, are involved in enabling behavioral flexibility. Here, we were able to use advanced imaging techniques to see neurotransmitter release in real time and delve into the fundamental mechanisms behind behavioral flexibility."
