Don't Let Regret Conrol Your Life

Regret is a regular part of life. Everyone has regrets whether they’re small, big, lastly 30 seconds or 3 days. Dr. Sweiss came to Loyola University Chicago to give a lecture on regret using an experiment performed in the  Redish lab by Adam Steiner and David Redish. It has been shown that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)and ventral striatum (vStr) play a role in the process of regret; humans who have a damaged OFC do not experience regret. In the study, mice performed a task called “Restaurant Row task” (picture shown below). There was a loop consisting of 4 different food stations with a possibility of 4 different flavors. Upon arrival, it would know the flavor of the food and given a tone that correlated to approximately how long the mouse would have to wait before the food became available. At this point, the mouse would decide if the food was worth waiting for or if it should try the next station. The only problem was that if the mouse decided to move on, it couldn’t return to the station; the task was constructed in a manner so that it was one way. If the mouse chooses to skip the station and move on, it has no clue what the next flavor or time delay would be. This is where regret would come in. If the time delay is short, then there’s no problem and the mouse is happy. But if the time delay is longer or if it doesn’t like the flavor then there might be some regret which is tested via the neural response of the OBF and vStr.

When it comes to food, we all have regrets but they’re minor and easy to get over. A common regret might be deciding between 2 different dishes at a restaurant and realizing the dish chosen was not well prepared at all so you might feel regret that you should have chosen the alternative dish. The study by Adam Steiner and David Redish illustrates the though process that causes regret. When regret becomes long-term, that’s when there’s a problem. It can lead to psychological, physical, and mental changes. A study by Stefanie Brassen has shown the comparisons between younger and older people in regards to regret.

                                  

In the article The Rue Age: Older Adults Disengage from Regrets, Young People Fixate on Them,  Stefanie Brassen discovers that younger people and depressed people tend to fixate on regrets whereas older people tend to move on from regrets. Generally, we would assume the opposite: older people would have more regret in life because they’ve experienced more but that’s not the case. According to the study, younger people have more regret because they know they have their whole future ahead of them so if any mistakes are made, they need to be resolved otherwise the rest of their life is impacted. For example, pre-medical students in college are very devoted to doing well on the MCAT but if it doesn’t happen then they might have regrets such as not studying enough or not using the correct study technique. This all happens because wherever the student decides to attend medical school is where they’ll be for 4 years. On the other hand, older people have lived a majority of their lifespan so they don’t want to worry about something they can’t control and might not impact the rest of their life. Both studies bring to life regret: an emotion that we experience frequently without realizing the impact it has on our lives and affects our decision-making for future situations.

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n7/abs/nn.3740.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/old-people-manage-regret/

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n7/images/nn.3745-F1.jpg

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/quotes/files/2012/11/shutterstock_86084539-300x248.jpg