New York: Isaac Tsui of Syosset High School on Long Island, NY and His Research

Hi! My name is Isaac Tsui and I am 15 years of age. I am from New York and things that interest me include history, aviation, and literature. I am interested in a career in military and business law and hope to be a Judge Advocate General and a civilian lawyer.

Reviewed Article: Neural mechanisms of goal-directed behavior: outcome-based response selection is associated with increased functional coupling of the angular gyrus by Katherine Zwosta, Hannes Ruge, and Usta Wolfensteller

Main Argument & Findings:

The main findings of the article are that goal-directed behavior is tied to three contingencies: a situation, a reaction, and the outcome (S-O-R). All of these contingencies must be "certain" or fixed so that one can focus on their goal. By presenting stimuli in multiple experiments, 33 participants were expected to pick one with anticipation, one purely on the stimuli itself, and a control factor in which the outcome was random. After clicking a stimuli, it would present a color which was the outcome that one tried to anticipate or "go with their gut". Each way they were supposed to pick their stimuli was a representation of the extent to which S-O-R was utilized. Through anticipation, it was expected that participants would use their S-O-R contingencies to the fullest extent, the pure stimuli to a lesser extent, and the random stimuli to no extent. Anticipation utilizes S-O-R by presenting a situation in which we are forced to choose, the reaction in which we need to determine the outcome. The stimulus-based choosing, does not allow us to make connections between reactions and outcomes as we do not expect what will happen. By utilizing an fMRI to scan brain activity, the angular gyrus was used to a greater extent and used by anticipating the stimulus, to a lesser extent and not used when picking the stimulus based solely on itself, and to no extent when it was random. This means that the angular gyrus is most used when trying to achieve goals and predict outcomes in a situation. The angular gyrus is in the parietal lobe which allows us to process the five senses within the brain. This experiment not only shows that the angular gyrus is the key component in goal-driven processing, but that S-O-R (what situation we are in, how react, and what the outcome is) factors are a great cause of causes us to be goal-driven. This impacted my understanding of the topic because I had never explored what causes us to be goal-driven and while I understood that there was a cognitive layer to it, I believed that emotional and social aspects in other parts of the brain would contribute more to this behavior. I would not expect that what causes us to be goal-driven lies in a part of the brain that is responsible for sensory reactions.

Importance for Youth:

This article is important for the youth to acknowledge because it is widely not known what leads to this goal-driven behavior. By acknowledging what S-O-R means and how to attribute that to your life, instead of periodically falling into some type of lull, the youth could prioritize the factors that would allow them to be productive. Instead of waiting for the perfect time or some type of motivation to make them work, individuals could attribute these contingencies so that they could be productive at will without waiting for those feelings. Widespread unproductiveness among Gen-Z is high and if one has any initiative at all, but does not know how to get out of a lull, they could use these traits to gain goal-driven ambition.

What I Learned: 

I have long attributed goal-orientated behavior with a constant push to get everything done so that I could reach my goal even faster. Frankly, I had no idea about how neuroscience impacts goal-orientated behavior and had no intent on doing so. The neuroscience behind this behavior is completely new to me but something that stood out to me the most was where the angular gyrus was located which was the lobe responsible for sensors. By learning about S-O-R, I can apply these factors in real life so that I am least likely to be unproductive and stay productive for as long as I can.

Citations: Zwosta, Katharina, et al. “Neural Mechanisms of Goal-Directed Behavior: Outcome-Based Response Selection Is Associated with Increased Functional Coupling of the Angular Gyrus.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 9, 10 Apr. 2015. PubMed Central, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4392699/, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00180. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

IG: @isaac_tsuii