The human brain is the major reason for making homo sapiens one of the most powerful and advanced species of the earth. Understanding how the brain functions can help product and UX designers to design precise solutions that will benefit both the users and the business.
In this article, we’ll see how the neurotransmitter dopamine impacts human behaviours.
The Neurotransmitter Dopamine — An Introduction
The frontal cortex we have in our brains is the last brain region to fully mature. The frontal cortex has a list of expertise which includes working memory, organizing knowledge strategically and initiating action of gratification postponement, long-term planning. In short, the frontal cortex makes us do the harder thing when it’s the right thing to do. But the frontal cortex gets the motivation(metaphorical) to do the harder things from the dopaminergic reward system in the brain. The dopamine is synthesized in many brain regions but the dopaminergic system that we are going to see(which will play a major role in product design) arises in the area, near the ancient part of the brain stem called ventral tegmental area.
There are 2 types of dopamine pathway:
- Mesolimbic dopamine pathway — The ventral tegmental area sends dopamine projections to the limbic areas(aka emotional brain) like nucleus accumbens, amygdala and hippocampus.
- Mesocortical dopamine pathway — The ventral tegmental area send dopamine projections to the prefrontal cortex (aka analytical brain).
The dopamine plays an important role in the motivated pursuit of rewards, pleasure and happiness in many species and humans are one of them
The dopaminergic system is all about rewards. There are various pleasurable stimuli that activate the ventral tegmental area which triggers the release of dopamine. Few examples are — the alcohol releases dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, getting likes for the photos we post on social media gives us a shot of dopamine, getting cash back for the online transactions does the same.
There are 4 stages of how dopamine activity changes to motivate us to attain rewards and goals.
Stage 1: Rewards
When users do an action and get a reward there will be a shot of dopamine in their brain exactly at the time(point A) when they receive the reward. Take a look at the below graph:
Example: Google Pay — For the first few times we get scratch cards(with cashback rewards) for each transaction we do. At the time we scratch the card and see the amount of money we get, there will be a shot of dopamine which makes us happy.
Stage 2: Anticipation of rewards
When users continuously perform the same action over the period of time in the pursuit of rewards(of same quantity) the dopamine shot decreases in the brain at the time(point A) when they get the rewards. At this stage, the brain would have learned the link between the stimulus and the reward. Now what happens is, the shot of dopamine increase when they anticipate (point B) a reward, ie., when the stimuli occur. This motivates them to do the action again and again to hunt the rewards. See the below graph:
Example: Google Pay — After we are used to the app, ie., after learning the relation between action and the scratch card rewards, we start to get a shot of dopamine when we think to use or open the app to perform the transaction. Thus, happiness is felt at the time of opening the app and starting to perform the transaction. This motivates us to use the app frequently.
Stage 3: Variability of rewards
Now, a variability factor is introduced in the occurrence(or quantity) of rewards, ie., the user may or may not get the reward. Let’s say that there is a 50% chance of the user getting a reward and a 50% chance of not getting a reward. This increases the uncertainty of getting a reward which eventually increases dopamine by a huge shot during and at the end of the action (point C). See the below graph where levels of dopamine shot are shown when there’s 100% chance of getting the reward and 50% chance of getting the reward.
Example: Google Pay — After the initial period of launch, Google started to bring in the variability factor, ie., we may or may not win money in scratch cards. This gives us a HUGE shot of dopamine at the time we perform the transaction irrespective of the fact we win money in scratch cards or not. Due to various shots of dopamine, we feel the pleasure during the entire user journey inside the Google Pay app even though we wouldn’t win money certain times. This makes us go back to the app again and again which ultimately creates a habit.
Stage 4: Pursuit of long term rewards
Apart from the anticipation of rewards, dopamine also triggers the goal-directed-behaviour which is needed to gain the reward. When the value of the reward is so high which requires a huge work(or more time); dopamine equates the value of the reward to the resulting work. Now, the mesocortical dopamine pathway(where ventral tegmental area sends dopamine projections to the prefrontal cortex, aka analytical brain) activates and gives the motivation to do the huge work to attain the reward. Here there will be a gradual increase in dopamine that motivates the sustained work. See the graph below:
Note: The size or worth of the reward matters the most at this stage. If a huge work is required for small or boring rewards there will be lesser activations in the mesocortical dopamine pathway than the activations in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway(where ventral tegmental area sends dopamine projections to the limbic areas, aka emotional brain) which makes users give up doing the huge work.
That’s it! This is how the dopamine affects the human behaviours with respect to rewards, pleasure and happiness. It’s our utmost responsibility to apply these biological mechanisms in product design and UX only for a good cause that uplifts human lives.
Ethical design is a necessity, not a luxury!
Interested to discuss more on brain science and design? Feel free to drop a mail to sandheepxd@gmail.com 😀
