Earthsky Interviews
Mike Cohen says looking for excitement is wired into your brain
12-23-2008 - Health
Cohen and his colleagues at the University of Bonn in Germany wanted to see how the different parts of the brain that relate to personality are connected to each other. Novelty seeking – meaning, experiences like trying extreme sports or traveling – has been associated with two regions of the brain which link new experiences to feelings of reward. Cohen wanted to see if these neural connections are stronger in some people than in others.
First he had people fill out questionnaires which determine whether you’re a novelty seeker. Then he used a brain imaging technique which looks at white matter. White matter consists of the neural fibers that connect different parts of the brain. With people who were novelty seekers, Cohen saw stronger white matter connections between these two parts of the brain.
Cohen said this shows that what we think of as being part of our own personalities, is really rooted to the structures and functions in our brains.
Our thanks to:
Mike X. Cohen
University of Arizona, University of Amsterdam
I believe age and stage of development has an infulence. Think teenage boys!
Yes,there are those who seek excitement every day. But for the better part reward vs risk always prevails – at least until the risk is faster than neural transmission speeds. This usualy is called out of control and leads to death. Thus the excitement of the “KILL’ is probably related to hunter vs gatherer.