This explains a lot.
Brain researcher thinks we’re hard-wired to be infovores. Apparently, the act of interpreting something that needs interpretation makes the brain produce happy-making neurotransmitters:
coming across what Dr. Biederman calls new and richly interpretable information triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good, which in turn causes us to seek out even more of it. The reverse is true as well: We want to avoid not getting those hits because, for one, we are so averse to boredom.
The study in question suggests that this is why people find the internet irresistible. But I think it also explains why I spent six years of my life in grad school, and to this day can’t resist research-oriented environments. The "interpreter’s high" beats the "runner’s high" any day of the week, in my book.
(Via BoingBoing.)
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