Have you ever waited for a bus that seemed like it would never come?
At first, you’re hopeful, but as time drags on, doubt creeps in.
Should you keep waiting, or is it better to move on?
This dilemma—whether to persist or quit—is something we all face in various situations, from relationships to careers.
Psychologist Joe Kable from the University of Pennsylvania studies how the brain makes these tough decisions.
His research explores the balance between sticking it out and knowing when to cut your losses.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Kable and his team used a coin-collection game to understand how people decide whether to persist or quit.
Their findings shed light on the brain’s decision-making processes and could even help in treating mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and addiction.
Participants in the study played a game where they collected coins that increased in value over time.
In some situations, waiting longer for the coin to mature was the best strategy. In others, coins matured unpredictably, making quitting the smarter choice. Players weren’t told the rules, so they had to learn from experience.
The researchers included healthy participants and individuals with damage to specific parts of the brain’s frontal cortex, which controls decision-making. By comparing these groups, they identified how different brain areas influence persistence and quitting.
The study found that damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) made participants less willing to wait, even when persistence was the better choice.
“The vmPFC seems to play a key role in deciding whether waiting is worth it,” said researcher Camilla van Geen. Without a fully functioning vmPFC, people struggled to see the value in waiting.
Participants with damage to other brain areas, like the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and anterior insula (AI), also had trouble. Unlike the vmPFC group, they didn’t quit too soon but failed to adapt their strategies.
They couldn’t distinguish between situations where waiting paid off and those where it didn’t.
Interestingly, damage to the lateral prefrontal cortex, often linked to self-control, didn’t affect performance. This suggests that persistence and quitting involve more than just willpower—they require the brain to assess value and learn from past experiences.
Quitting isn’t always a failure
Kable explains that persistence and quitting are two sides of the same coin. “We often think quitting means giving up, but sometimes it’s the smarter choice,” van Geen adds. Both require complex mental calculations, and the right choice depends on the situation.
The team is now studying how brain chemicals like dopamine and serotonin affect decisions about persistence. Early results suggest that serotonin may play a big role in waiting decisions. Future research will also examine how different brain systems work together in these processes.
Ultimately, understanding how we decide to stick with something—or let it go—could help people make better decisions in life and improve treatments for conditions tied to persistence and reward processing.
