Why talking about yourself with friends can be as pleasurable as SEX

According to recent figures people spend up to 40 per cent of their time talking about themselves.

Researchers from Harvard University Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab wanted to find out why people like the sound of their own voice so much and if it was linked to the parts of their brain associated with pleasure and reward. 

After conducting tests using brain scanning technology they found that when people talk about themselves it triggers the same chemical reaction they experience during sex and this motivates them to share personal information more regularly.

The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to carry out the tests.

This imaging tool can identify changes in the level of blood flow to certain parts of the brain when presented with certain stimuli. 

During the fMRI experiment, researchers asked 195 people to talk about themselves, including their own opinions and personality traits.

They were then asked to discuss opinions and traits of other people they knew. 

The researchers measured the blood flow levels in the participant's brains during both discussions and used them to directly compare differences in neural activity between the two. 

When participants talked about themselves, the researchers discovered an increase in activity to the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), generally linked with self-related thought. 

And for the first time they noticed a change in activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). 

Both parts of these brain are linked with releasing dopamine.

WHAT IS DOPAMINE?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure sections. 

It is released when the brain is subjected by certain stimuli, such as during sex, when taking drugs, eating chocolate and more. 

Dopamine also helps control emotional responses to situations. 

It helps us to see the rewards of certain behaviours but also motivates us to seek out these rewards.

Dopamine deficiency results in Parkinson's Disease, and people with low dopamine activity may be more prone to addiction. 

The presence of a certain kind of dopamine is also associated with sensation seeking.

  

Sensation seeking is a personality trait in people who seek out risky activities.