Revving habits up and down, new insight into how the brain forms habits

Each day, humans and animals rely on habits to complete routine tasks such as eating. As new habits are formed, this enables us to do things automatically without thinking. As the brain starts to develop a new habit, in as little as a half a second, one region of the brain, the dorsolateral striatum, experiences a short burst in activity, which increases as the habit becomes stronger. A new study demonstrates how habits can be controlled depending on how active the dorsolateral striatum is.