Do you know that when you like something, your brain does not necessarily want it? Conversely, do you know that your brain can want something that you do not even like?

Is there a difference between wanting and liking? Only within the last decade, scientists have found out that there is. Here is a simple explanation. Everything from outside is perceived by our senses, the sight, smell, sound, and taste of it. From there, it goes on its way to the brain through a few circuits (we called it neuronal pathway), which once have reached the brain, will elicit our response, such as liking, wanting or hating. Neurologists have this device which can detect the active circuits (the circuits that are being used). For example, if you see a flower and you like it, the circuit from your senses into your brain will light up. Many people thought that liking and wanting are the same. It makes sense, does it? For example, you want a cheeseburger because you like it. You want to play basketball because you like it. For many years, scientists thought of it too, but a failed experiment revealed it is wrong.

An experiment was done on rats and primates, in which the 'want circuit', the circuit which is activated when you want something, is cut off. Scientist believed that this will suppress their 'wants' towards food, so that the rats would not have an effect towards the presentation of food (in this experiment, a cheese). But what they discovered was surprising. The rats instead still move towards the food like a hungry animal, but once it came close to the cheese, the rat just stayed there and did not eat it! They tried moving the cheese, and still, the rat moves towards the cheese, but then just stayed there, not eating it. It totally puzzled the scientists. So they used the device to detect the brain circuits, and realized that although the 'wants circuit' is cut off, another circuit which ends at the same area of the brain lights up. Now this is the discovery of the 'like circuit'. The scientists concluded that there are different circuits in the brain for 'liking' and 'wanting'.

This finding explains much of our unexplainable behavior. Like why do smokers still smoke though they know it is bad. Why we would really like to wake up early in the morning, but turned off the alarm and went back to sleep anyway. Why everybody wants to be successful, but only some really do something about it. Why drug addicts repeatedly inject themselves with morphine, although it is painful. Why is it that we can like someone, but we do not necessarily want him or her. Why some severely battered wife still sticks with her abusing husband?

It is all about the distinction between 'liking' and 'wanting'. Ask the smokers, they might say that they do not really like the act of smoking, but they want to smoke anyway. However, saying that wanting and liking signals goes through different pathways in the brain, it does not mean that they fire off separately on different occasions. In fact, most of the time, they fire simultaneously. That is why when we want to eat, we would eat what we like. When we want to play, we would play what we like to play. We must remember that those two pathways end up at the same part of the brain. Hence, when both pathways fire together, it creates a greater response! In the case of addiction, however, the substances in the drugs or cigarette alter the brain chemistry, so that the 'want circuit' is fired more.

So, taking this finding into daily lives, I would say that if you want something in your life, fire off both of your 'like' and 'want' circuits. If you want something, make sure you really like it, or it would not work. Do not become a doctor only because your family told you so. You must be willing to like it in order for you to want it. Or else, sure you will become a doctor, but most probably, an average one, unless on the way you find medicine very interesting and start liking it. Do the things that you like, and success will follow On the other hand, if you like something, do not say that you would like it. Say that you WANT it. Don not say "I would like to be a world-known architect', say "I WANT to be a world-known architect". If you like something, deeply want it. Do something. Fire off both of your 'want' and 'like' circuits! That, my friend, separates the daydreamers and the achievers

Lutfi Fadil Lokman is a medical student at National University of Malaysia. He holds a special interest in the field of neurology where he studies about the human brain, its function, and its correlation to the principles of success in daily life. To read more about the relationship between the brain function and the principles of success, visit his website at: http://lutfi-fadil.blogspot.com/ or view his profile on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lutfifadil