In the last few decades, neuroscientists have finally begun to understand why this happens. When things turn out just as we expect, the reward centers in our brains stay dormant. After all, our circuitry didn’t evolve to reward us for finding out what we already know. On the other hand, when things don’t turn out like we expect, our brains catch fire. Alert to the chance of gleaning a new pattern, our reward centers buzz. It’s the same dopamine circuitry triggered by heroin and cocaine. So-called variable rewards pop up most obviously in casinos, and in the design of slot machines, on which
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