Publication (142 pages).

considering whether to throw
things out, hoarders have an
unusual amount of activity in
the orbitofrontal cortex and
the anterior cingulate cortex
— both areas of the brain involved
in decision-making.
Everyone’s brains light up
when we consider throwing
things out. What if I need this
Brain scans of hoarders have shown that
when considering whether to throw things
out, hoarders have an unusual amount of
activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and the
anterior cingulate cortex — both areas of
the brain involved in decision-making.
As consumerism grows, we invest our possessions with more and more value. We
even become convinced our possessions have attitudes and feelings, which is a
delusion common among hoarders.
later? Can’t there be some other
use for it? But it reminds
me of my great aunt! A hoarder’s
brain lights up intensely
for everything. Whenever you
decide that you’ll definitely
use that screwdriver again and
let it drop back into your junk
drawer, you’re experiencing
what a hoarder feels for everything
they’ve ever possessed.
We don’t approximate what
they feel, we feel what they
feel. We just feel it for fewer
things.
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