Part of Our Brain Makes Us Seek Adventures

Photo: Dopamine and Serotonin Pathways in the Brain.

This latest brain research may explain why we do the things we do . . .

British scientists have identified a primitive area of the brain that makes us adventurous and seeking new stuff.

Using brain scans to measure blood flow, British researchers discovered that a brain region known as the ventral striatum was more active when subjects chose unusual objects in controlled tests. The ventral striatum is involved in processing rewards in the brain through the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine.

Scientists believe the existence of this age-old reward mechanism indicates there is an evolutionary advantage in sampling the unknown.

"Seeking new and unfamiliar experiences is a fundamental behavioural tendency in humans and animals. It makes sense to try new options as they may prove advantageous in the long run," said Bianca Wittmann of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London.

Being daring and seeking new adventures can be good and not so. Some choices could be dangerous and selecting the ' new' may, for instance, make consumers susceptible to marketing hype. The positive feedback could also contribute to some common vices.

"In humans, increased novelty-seeking may play a role in gambling and drug addiction, both of which are mediated by malfunctions in dopamine release," said Nathaniel Daw, now at New York University, who also worked on the brain study.

The findings for this study were published online in the journal Neuron.

» Source: Reuters
Image from Wikipedia. Retrieved June 26, 2008.