Researchers Release Findings on Gambling AddictionGambling Has Biological and Spiritual RootsResearchers Release Findings on Gambling AddictionGambling Has Biological and Spiritual Roots

Findings from a federal and state funded study conducted by researchers at the University of New Mexico in conjunction with Massachusetts General Hospital indicating that gambling, like food and drugs, produces feelings of reward in the brain and that gambling addictions are a form of spiritual seeking.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found that prize money could activate many of the same "reward" areas in the brain turned on by food and drugs. "This work argues that we can begin to dissect the systems that process reward and organize behavior in humans," says lead author Hans Breiter. "This is also the first demonstration that a monetary reward in a gambling-like experiment produces brain activation very similar to that observed in a cocaine addict receiving an infusion of cocaine. The results showed that an incentive unique to humans—money—produced patterns of brain activity that closely resembled patterns seen previously in response to other types of rewards....