20 Feb 02 9921459

Hijacking the Brain Circuits With a Nickel Slot Machine
Recent findings challenge the notion that people always make conscious choices about what they want and how to obtain it. In fact neuroscientists say much of what happens in the brain goes on outside of conscious awareness.

Neuroscientists have uncovered a common thread between compulsive gambling, attendance at sporting events, vulnerability to telephone scams and exuberant investing in the stock market based on rewards.

“Such behaviors, they say, rely on brain circuits that evolved to help animals assess rewards important to their survival, like food and sex.”

Apparently those same circuits are used by the human brain to assess a variety of social rewards from investment income to surprise home runs at the bottom of the ninth. They also found that the brain systems that detect and evaluate such rewards generally operate outside of conscious awareness.

“In navigating the world and deciding what is rewarding, humans are closer to zombies than sentient beings much of the time.”

Tags: User Experience