Catching the eye of someone beautiful triggers a flurry of activity deep in the brain, new research has found. The discovery may shed light on why first impressions last when we meet new people.
Evidence is growing that in animals, a region of the brain called the ventral striatum becomes active when the animal anticipates a reward of food. The same region becomes active in drug addicts and compulsive gamblers when they are about to indulge their habit.
Knut Kampe of University College London and his colleagues wondered whether a social 鈥渞eward鈥� 鈥� the sight of an attractive face 鈥� would have the same effect. To find out, they scanned the brains of eight men and eight women as they looked at 160 photos of 40 different people in quick succession. The volunteers then rated how attractive they found the faces they had seen.
Advertisement
Social 鈥榞ift鈥�
Unattractive faces did not activate the volunteers鈥� brains. But the ventral striatum became more active when the photo was of an attractive person looking straight out at the viewer, and less active if the person鈥檚 gaze was averted.
Kampe thinks this makes sense, because exchanging looks with an attractive person represents a social 鈥済ift鈥�, while it鈥檚 disappointing to go unnoticed.
Interestingly, these responses were not sexual 鈥� they happened regardless of the gender of the person in the photo. We might link any attractive people with 鈥渞eward鈥� because they have high social status. 鈥淢eeting a potential good friend or someone who might influence our career might be very rewarding,鈥� says Kampe.
He adds that the response seemed quick and automatic and might partly explain evidence that we make snap judgments of people within three or four seconds of meeting them.
Journal reference: Nature (vol 413, p 589)