Practical Neuroscience Applications

Dopamine levels go down

Dopamine is released when the cue is recognized.

Dopamine levels remain constant.

Dopamine is only released when the reward is experienced

Make it visible.

Make it invisible.

Make it attractive.

Make it satisfying.

Ignore your core values

Compare yourself to others

Take steps every day to affirm your core values

Avoid thinking about your values

Fear of confirming a stereotype increases cognitive load

Fear of confirming a stereotype decreases cognitive load

Lack of external validation makes people anxious

Limited retrieval from long term memory

To avoid doing tasks

To increase the difficulty of tasks

To make tasks feel less overwhelming

To finish tasks quickly

Try to complete a task in less than 5 minutes

Set a timer for 5 minutes and start the task for that amount of time - allow yourself to stop after 5 min IF you feel like it

Reward yourself only after 5 minutes

Work on something for only 5 minutes and stop

Doing the entire worksheet at once

Timing yourself while working

Skipping parts of a task

Breaking a large task into smaller sections

10-15 minutes

20-45 minutes

60 minutes

90 minutes

To avoid boredom

To finish more tasks quickly

Because dopamine has been slowly depleting

To prevent distractions

Watch a movie

Take a nap

Go for a short walk

Play videogames