What happens in the brain when frustration builds over a task that keeps failing? · Grey Matter

Each failure is an error between what was expected and what happened, and the anterior cingulate cortex responds to such errors and to the conflict of trying again.

What happens in the brain when frustration builds over a task that keeps failing?

Each failure is an error between what was expected and what happened, and the anterior cingulate cortex responds to such errors and to the conflict of trying again. As the failures accumulate the amygdala and the hypothalamus add arousal (a faster heart, tension), and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which weighs whether continuing is worth it, registers the reward as being withheld. Frustration is the felt state of that combination, and it can either push effort up or tip into giving up or lashing out, depending on how prefrontal control holds.