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Compliments Are As Good As Cash
Hey, you look great today! Did you feel a boost in your mood from my compliment? According to researchers, getting a compliment makes you feel good in the same way as getting money does. Scientists made this discovery by studying images, called brain scans, of the people who volunteered for the study.
While scientists took brain scans, the people gambled for money. When they won, a certain part of their brains lit up with activity. Later, when they gave those volunteers compliments, the same part of their brain was affected.
In the middle of your brain is a part called the striatum. It processes reactions that you have to rewards, new situations, or surprises. When you win a prize or get a compliment, your striatum releases a chemical called dopamine, and that makes you feel good.
That part of the brain also responds to status. For example, the volunteers played a game. After the game, players were shown pictures of everyone they played with. Their striatum only showed activity when the picture was of someone who won the game, not someone who lost.
Experiments like these help scientists understand how our brains process information. They learned that getting praise, or money, makes our brains react in the same way. Hey, maybe that's why we call it being paid a compliment!
I'm Adelbert and that's what happened in science this week!
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