People value self-chosen awards more than those given to them, even if they are equivalent. Self-chosen rewards increase dopamine levels, strengthening neural pathways and causing repeated rewarding behaviors in the future.
According to 2014 research from Brown University, people value awards chosen for themselves rather than those given to them, even if the award given is equivalent to the one that was chosen. The rewards chosen by the subjects during the study showed that levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, had increased, causing the neural pathways to strengthen. When dopamine levels rise, cellular response improves which can cause repeated rewarding behaviors in the future.
Read more about the human brain:
On average, the human brain weighs about 3 pounds (1.36 kg).
Harvard’s Brain Bank contains over 7,000 human brains that are stored and used for research.
Sleep is important for the brain to store new memories created during the day: lack of sleep damages the brain’s ability to recall memories.
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