There is a biological reason why we learn more from our triumphs than from our failures, according to new research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Scientists there have shown that the brain responds to success at the level of individual brain cells, but the neurons show virtually no response to failures.

The fact that we learn more from our successes than from our failures is not new. Even family pets respond more to reward than punishment, and so do children, according to numerous psychology studies.

Little Is Known About How Environment Guides Learning

The scientists used monkeys in the research because it isn't possible to monitor individual brain cells, or neurons, without implanting an electrode in the brain, and of course that's out of the question with human subjects. But monkeys can learn things, and then relearn things, fairly quickly, although they are not as good at it as humans.

Neurons Retain Memory of Correct Action

Histed, lead author of the study, said via e-mail that the research explored the neural circuitry "at the single neutron level."

"We found that the memory of past actions could be maintained by the activity of the neurons," Histed said. "Some neurons started to fire after correct responses, and continued to fire for several seconds until the next action was to be made."

In other words, the neurons themselves retained a memory of the correct action, paving the way for continued success.

The researchers found that monkeys that were rewarded for the right response to a cue learned quickly how to respond the next time they saw the cue, but monkeys that responded incorrectly weren't any better equipped to deal with the same cue the next time they saw it.

Evolutionary Basis for How Brains Learn

"If the monkey just got a correct answer, a signal lingered in its brain that said 'you did the right thing.' Right after a correct answer, neurons processed information more sharply and effectively, and the monkey was more likely to get the next answer correct as well," Miller said. "But after an error there was no improvement. In other words, only after successes, not failures, did brain processing and the monkeys' behavior improve."

There is apparently an evolutionary basis for why the brain learns that way, Miller said.

"There's a practical reason for it," he said. "Successes are more informative than failures."

If you fail at something you probably know why. You got fired because you showed up late most of the time. Your spouse left because you showed up too many times at the wrong place, with the wrong person. You already know the reason you failed.

"If you succeed, everything has gone right, so there's a lot more information in successes than failures," Miller said. "The brain probably evolved to take advantage of successes because there's more information there."

美国马萨诸塞科学协会最新一项研究表明，生物学可以解释我们为什么从成功中学到更多，而不是失败。

科学家表明：大脑以个人脑细胞水平高低对成功有反应，但是神经细胞几乎对失败没有反应。

我们从成功中学到更多而不是失败的事实已经不是第一次了。据众多心理学研究，即使是家里养的宠物对奖赏有更多的反应而不是惩罚，孩子也是一样的。

不清楚如何引导学习环境

科学家用猴子做实验，因为在没有给他们大脑灌输电极时是不可能监督各自的大脑细胞的，当然，那不是人类的问题。但是，猴子可以学习，然后反复学习，而且相当快，尽管没有人类学得好。

神经细胞保留正确的动作的记忆

研究者Histed通过邮件说，"研究探索了在单个神经末梢的神经线路。"

结果发现过去情节的记忆可以通过活跃的神经保留下来".他说，"一些神经在正确的反应后开始解散小时，接下来的几秒继续这样一直到将要做下一个动作。

".

换句话说，神经细胞自身保存着正确行为的记忆，为以后的成功铺平道路。

研究发现，因反应正确而得到奖赏的猴子，当下一次他们看到线索时对怎么反应学习的更快，而那些反应错误的猴子，对下一次如何去处理看到的同样的事物没有什么人长进。

学习如何演化基础大脑

如果猴子刚刚回答的正确，一种信号进入他们的大脑说你做对了，之后神经细胞传授信息会更灵敏更有效，同时猴子也更有可能做对接下来的动作。"Miller说。"但如果是错误的，以后会没有提高。换句话说，只有经过成功，而不是失败，大脑才能传输，猴子的行为才能改善。

一个进化发展基础论明显的解释了为什么大脑那样学习，Miller说。

."一个很实际的原因，".他说，"成功比失败的见识更多，信息更广。"

如果你某些事失败了，你可能知道原因。你被解雇了因为你迟到了好长时间。你的爱人离开了因为你很多地方错了，和不应该在一起的人在一起。 你已经知道失去的原因。

如果你成功了，一切事情正常，因此在成功的路上比失败有很多信息。Miller说，"大脑可能转为去好好利用成功，就因为成功有很多信息。"