A Beautiful Face Could Trigger the Same Response as Drugs?

A study has shown the brain’s receptors that respond to beauty are the same ones that respond to drugs. So could a beautiful face trigger the same response as some drugs?

Much like heroin and morphine, a new study by the  journal of molecular psychiatry says beauty plays with the mind – and the receptors of the brain stimulated by drugs, may also be stimulated by a beautiful face.

There’s plenty of evidence to back up the different reactions we give to people who are less or more attractive. Many studies including this one suggest those physically less attractive than their freinds and colleagues are treated poorly in comparison.

Research based on evolution suggests that those who conform to universal standards of attraction convey health, strength and even fertility, which ultimately attracts the opposite sex. Another recent study suggests that a beautiful face is bound to draw in others, as it portrays friendliness.

A new study published in the journal of Molecular psychiatry, concluded that looking at beautiful faces plays the same effects on the human brain as drugs like morphine and heroin. The study demonstrated that beauty activates the same rewards circuit in the brain that some drugs can.

The study looked at the u-opioid receptors, which play an important role in the feelings of bonding and attachment. This study brings in to question why we are more attracted to beautiful faces. It conclusively leads us to believe attractiveness is more valuable, and we may indeed have a built-in biochemical motivation to become attracted to those deemed physically beautiful.

Studies suggest that facial symmetry is rated highly attractive among both female and males when being rated by the opposite sex. A perfectly symmetrical face, allegedly, is an evolutionary  sign of good health, whereby an unsymmetrical face gives off tell-tale signs of previous illness ( possibly genetically) and poor-health.

For those of us who are not symmetrical (that’s most of the population) this is not great news. However, other recent studies revealed the findings that physically attractive faces are also less memorable than their objectively less attractive counterparts. In other words, we’re more likely to remember unattractive faces than attratcive ones.

So, if your not “beautiful”, you’re sure to be more memorable – and who says you are not beautiful?

We always say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and you only have to look at some celebrity pairings to see that that’s true.

By BB intern Brooke Davie.

 Who do you think is the most beautiful celebrity face?

 

 

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