Now that we're two months into the New Year, how is your list of resolutions going so far? It's fairly easy to write down our goals and resolutions, right? Most of us would want to break bad habits and begin new ones for a better lifestyle.

The trick, however, is to actually perform what we've set out to do. For instance, you want to kick the habit of smoking, but you're finding it difficult to do so. There may be a scientific and biological explanation as to why it is that way.

According to a new study, our brain is hardwired to pay more attention to things that are pleasing for us, thus sabotaging our self-control.

In the first of its kind, neuroscientists from John Hopkins University (JHU) showed that when humans see something associated with a past reward, their dopamine levels flourish. This also happens even when the person isn't expecting a reward or isn't aware that he is giving attention to it. Turns out, we don't have much self-control as we would like to believe.

Professor Susan M. Courtney, the study's senior author and a member of JHU's Psychological and Brain Sciences department, said people don't realize that our past experience biases our attention to things.

This may be why it's difficult for people to break the cycle of addiction or why dieters find it hard to avoid food that are delicious but not healthy.

"What we tend to look at, think about, and pay attention to is whatever we've done in the past that was rewarded," said Courtney.

The JHU research team asked 20 study participants to find green and red objects on a computer screen with different-colored objects. Players receive $1.50 whenever they find red objects, while they get 25 cents when they find green ones.

The next day, while brain scans were being conducted, participants were tasked to find certain shapes on the screen and color of the object no longer mattered. There was also no reward involved.

When a red object appeared, however, it was automatic for participants to focus on it. A particular part of their brain involved in attention was also filled with dopamine, a neurotransmitter proven to be released by the brain in relation to rewards.

Courtney said what was surprising about it was that people were not getting rewarded and were not expecting rewards. She said there may be something about past reward association that still causes the release of dopamine. The stimulus may have been incorporated with the brain's reward system.

The findings of the study may help scientists curb addictions and other behavioral problems. It is featured in the journal Current Biology.

Photo : Michael Coghlan | Flickr