Information is Like Crack Cocaine to our Brains
Guess what? Checking your cell is like snorting crack cocaine. Ok, maybe not quite that similar but a new study shows that information , to our brains, releases dopamine just like money or food. Or drugs. According to newswise.com, a new study by researchers at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business has found that information acts on the brain's dopamine-producing reward system in the same way as money or food. “To the brain, information is its own reward, above and beyond whether it's useful,” says Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu , a neuroeconomist whose research employs functional magnetic imaging (fMRI), psychological theory, economic modeling, and machine learning, at the web site. "And just as our brains like empty calories from junk food, they can overvalue information that makes us feel good but may not be useful—what some may call idle curiosity." Hsu found that the research demonstrates that the brain converts information into the same "common ...