Just re-read Zweig’s excellent book "Your Money and Your Brain". This was prompted by a reader asking me to cite where I got the phrase in my paper that said "people use a different part of their brain when they are losing money."
A couple great quotes from the book:
"The neural activity of someone whose investments are making money is indistinguishable from that of someone who is high on cocaine or morphine."
"Financial losses are processed in the same areas of the brain that respond to mortal danger." Uncertainty and loss cause the amygdala to start firing, we all know what the result of that is…
(Also read the paper, "Neuroeconomics: How Neuroscience Can Inform Economics" by Camerer.)
In a related note, who is in for free pancakes tomorrow at IHOP?
