Willpower and Brain Networks.

Recently there has been much discussion of willpower, with two recent books and a number of commentators addressing the topic (Baumeister & Tierney, 2011; Gazzaniga, 2011). In a New York Times exchange between Walton and Dweck (2011) and Baumeister and Vohs (2011) the role of attitudes versus biology in willpower is discussed. In this debate, the issue is framed in terms of whether willpower involves innate biological mechanisms and thus cannot be changed or whether it involves a learned understanding that can easily be altered by instruction. This discussion of biology and attitude seems to be another instance of a nature vs. nurture distinction which has been settled in much of developmental psychology, but still seems to underlie many arguments about development. In discussing “willpower,” Walton and Dweck (2011) oppose a biological theory based on depletion of glucose with their own research indicating the importance of attitudes toward the efficiency of will in influencing persistence on a difficult task. It is important to know whether attitudes can reduce fatigue and improve performance, even if there are limits to how long they can keep decline away, as Baumeister and Vohs (2011) point out in their response to the Walton and Dweck piece. However, it is unfortunate to have the issue posed as a simple dichotomy, because there is now a real opportunity to understand the brain mechanisms that lie behind our often limited ability to bend our behavior to our will. Gazzaniga (2011) argues that brain mechanisms support our control of mental events even if our beliefs in the extent of their influence and their freedom from constraint are illusory. However, Gazzaniga does not provide any detailed studies of these mechanisms from a neuroscience viewpoint. Below we briefly outline some of the approaches used in applying neuroscience methods to understanding the mechanisms of will, showing that these biological mechanisms develop and are influenced by the social environment including specific training, even though there clearly are limits to their plasticity.