London, Feb 3 (Inditop.com) Our need for stimulation and dopamine’s action upon the brain are connected, which explains why people who constantly crave stimulation are in danger of addictive behaviour such as drug abuse and gambling.
The urge to seek out new experiences is a personality trait that psychologists have known about for years, but until now scientists have been unable to prove how this urge relates to brain’s hormonal activities.
Now, a team of scientists from the Universities of Copenhagen, Aarhus and Tokyo have been able to prove that this hunger for stimulation is greater on average among people who possess more of the gratification hormone — dopamine in the brain.
The research team lead by Albert Gjedde, professor of neuroscience and pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen and Arne M�ller from CFIN at Aarhus University (AU) used PET scans at AU Hospital to map the areas in the brain where dopamine was active among healthy volunteers, said a Copenhagen release.
Measurement of dopamine showed that the test subjects who had the strongest urge to seek out new and thrilling experiences had both more dopamine in the brain and more areas in the brain where dopamine was active, explains Gjedde.
The results were published in the February issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
