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UCL in the News: Why losing money isn't just a pain in the wallet
2 May 2007
The experience of losing money is processed by the brain in a similar fashion to pain and fear, according to research that could explain why people dread financial misfortune more deeply than they value gains.
The findings, from a team at UCL, suggest that the concept of "financial pain" is a real response to economic loss that has similar neurological roots to physical pain. …
The research, which is published in the 'Journal of Neuroscience', promises to provide important insights into how the brain makes financial decisions, and why some people easily avoid gambling while others find it compulsive. It could eventually lead to new ways of treating gambling addiction. …
The team, led by Dr Ben Seymour, of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL, scanned the brains of 24 volunteers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they played a gambling game. …
When people felt they were likely to lose, the pattern of activity was very similar to that seen in the striatum when people experience physical pain. …
"This provides a sort of biological justification for the popular concept of 'financial pain'," Dr Seymour said.
Mark Henderson, 'The Times'
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