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Human brains are hard-wired for laziness, according to scientists. People tend to shift their perception of reality when they have to work hard.

Researchers at University College London (UCL) conducted a series of experiments to test the willingness of participants to choose the harder of two tasks. The test was a simple computer game according to eLife. A cloud of dots move either left or right and the player, or the subject of the study, will signal which direction the dots were moving in by using the levers at their left or right side.

The scientists then started adding weights to the levers and the subjects began to see things differently. If the dots were moving left, but the left lever was harder to pull, the players tend to see the dots moving to the right. The same thing happens when the weight is added on the right lever. Participants shift their view of reality so they do not have to work hard.

Nobuhiro Hagura, Ph.D., lead author of the study, concluded that human brains seem to be wired for laziness. Not only does the cost to act influence people's behavior, it also changes what people think. Hagura, who began the research at UCL then moved to National Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Japan, said that human brains trick the people into believing that low hanging fruit is really the ripest.

Previous studies suggest that it is the motor skills that submit to the will of the visual system. However, the research recently conducted suggests that humans are mitigated by what they feel and how much hard work they have to do. Participants in the study readily changed their perception of reality when they are given the option of doing the hard work.

To combat laziness, researchers suggest putting the television remote control in a place where it will be hard to get. Another trick is to sleep in one's outfit so it will be less hard work to go to the gym in the morning.