An interesting little study adds to the addictive-personality debate by providing evidence that the brain reward regions of highly motivated people become more active at the sight of appetizing food than those of unmotivated people. This follows on from indications that people who are prone to obesity tend to be highly motivated by rewards: they go out of their way to get the things they want, are willing to take risks, and are more thrilled than the average person when they succeed. So the argument is that food (in this case, but more generally any reward) has a far more powerful neurological impact on some people than others.

You might think from that that such a personality would therefore be more likely to be successful in life, but I guess the point is that such a personality is likely to pursue something with determination, but whether that something is money or fame or food or drugs or whatever, is a matter of life experiences. Still, the thought that wildly successful people and people that appear to have opted out of life might be victims of the same brain quirk is an intriguing one!