Germany's national soccer team player Schweinsteiger flashes a victory sign on his way to a ferry boat in the town of Santa Cruz Cabralia
Germany's national soccer team player Bastian Schweinsteiger flashes a victory sign on his way to a ferry boat in the town of Santa Cruz Cabralia north of Porto Seguro early July 1, 2014. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

A new study has found that people who go on trying in spite of encountering several failures had differential brain activity in areas called the ventral striatum and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. The study published in the Cell Press journal Neuron has found that persistent trying may depend on how much control a person feels he has over a situation.

For the study, 30 college students were given a task, a game that they had to play to pursue a goal. The game was such that they would encounter several failures but they had to achieve the goal of getting an academic degree. The setbacks they encountered were failed tests or cancelled courses. While the former set back could be handled by the participants by studying and providing the right answers, the latter was not in their control. Throughout the game, their brains were scanned.

The difficulty of the game was not in a mere failure but in the lack of control that they had over certain circumstances. They had to start the game from the beginning if they fail, irrespective of whether the course was cancelled or the test was failed. When the game begins again, they were given the option of either changing their goals or going forward with the same one.

The researchers found that those students who felt that they had control over their setbacks continued to pursue the same goal over and over again. While those who encountered setbacks due to cancelled courses did not opt for the same goal as they felt they had little control over their setback.

It was also seen through the brain scan that an area in the brain called ventral striatum also played a role in determining if a participant would go on trying or not. Those who had lesser brain activity in this region continued to try despite the failures. But this region controlled the persistent trying of an individual in failures that were controllable. In situations where the failures were uncontrollable like the cancelled courses, another region of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was seen to have a role.

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex was related to persistence when the setbacks were uncontrollable. This region controls emotions and helps people cope with negative emotions. Study researcher and associate professor of psychology at Rutgers University, Mauricio Delgado explained that in situations that are uncontrollable, failures would lead to emotions of frustration and other negative emotions that need to be managed in order to continue pursuing the goal. He stated that the study shows how the brain helps in coping with such failures.

The study holds a lot of importance with respect to students and their academic performances. Researchers said that it can also help understand the reasons behind "high dropout rates" and a student's urge to go on or quit. Postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University, Jamil Bhanji said, "Our findings suggest that institutions that wish to promote persistence must pay attention to the way they deliver performance feedback and the way people perceive such feedback".