Brain makes forbidden fruit hard to resist

Our brain gives forbidden objects the same level of attention as our own personal possessions, making the temptation hard to resist, a new study has claimed.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada in the study explained how people become obsessed with forbidden pleasures.
The study, shows that when people are forbidden from something, it takes on a new level of focus.
However, researchers also found that obsession is not as strong if others are also denied: when an object is forbidden to a group, the allure of the object drops dramatically.
This helps to explain why group diet techniques can be more successful than dieting alone. It also offers important insights for compulsive hoarding and parents seeking to help their children's attachment to toys and other possessions.

For the study, groups of participants were shown images of everyday objects and told the objects were either theirs, someone else's, forbidden to them or forbidden to everyone.

Using electronic brain imaging and memory tests, researchers found the forbidden objects were recognised as well as self-owned objects.
"Our findings show that when individuals are forbidden from everyday objects, our minds and brains pay more attention to them," said lead author Grace Truong, a graduate student in UBC's Department of Psychology.
"Our brains give forbidden objects the same level of attention as our own personal possessions," Truong said.
"These new findings help to explain how our brain processes forbidden objects and suggests that, for resisting temptation, there's strength in numbers. It's harder to go it alone," said UBC Psychology Professor Todd Handy, a co-author of the study.

The study will appear in the Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience journal.