London: Many may argue over this study,
but our brains actually "light up" with pleasure when people
agree with us.
Researchers in Europe have carried out the study and
found that the "reward" area of one`s brain is activated when
all people agree with one`s opinions, say on any particular
issue, the `Current Biology` journal reported.
The study suggests scientists may be able to predict
how much people can be influenced by the opinions of others on
the basis of level of activity in the brain.
Prof Chris Frith at University College London in
collaboration with Aarhus University in Denmark examined the
effect that having experts agree with a person`s opinions had
on the brains of 28 volunteers.
Before the task, each volunteer was asked to provide
a list of 20 songs that they liked, but did not currently own.
They were asked to rate the songs on a scale of one to 10 --
depending on how much they wanted the song, a score of 10
indicating that they wanted the song very much.
The subjects were then placed in a functional magnetic
resonance imaging (FMRI) scanner, which records brain activity
by measuring related changes in blood flow. They`re shown one
of the songs they requested and one from a set of previously
unknown songs and were asked to indicate a preference.
PTI
