The reason you decide to postpone household chores and spend your time browsing social media could be explained by the workings of a brain circuit. To do this, the researchers designed an experiment with monkeys, a widely used model for understanding decisionmaking and motivation processes in the brain. This behavior allowed them to identify a brain circuit that acts as a brake on motivation in the face of anticipated adverse situations. By doing so, the monkeys regained the motivation to initiate tasks, even in those tests that involved blowing air. In this sense, apathy toward unpleasant tasks appears to develop gradually as communication between these two regions intensifies.