The human brain is attracted to things that were once pleasing even if they no longer are, researchers report. Study participants were asked to find red and green objects on a computer screen filled with different colored objects. They received small rewards for finding the objects: $1.50 for the red ones and 25 cents for the green ones.

The next day, while brain scans were conducted, participants were asked to find certain shapes on the screen. There was no reward, and color was irrelevant. Still, when a red object appeared, participants focused on it, and scans showed dopamine was released in their brains.

“They are not getting a reward for that, yet part of the brain is saying, ‘Oh, there’s a reward — pay attention to it,’” said Susan M. Courtney, a cognitive neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University and a co-author of the study in Current Biology.