Justin Bieber fans can’t help their obsession – it’s hardwired into their brain, says a leading neuroscientist.

According to Professor Daniel Levitin ‘Bieber Fever’ (symptoms include screaming, fainting and constantly tracking the teen idol on Twitter) is a real physical compulsion.

When ‘Beliebers’ – as Bieber’s 44 million fans are known – listen repeatedly to his music, a chemical responsible for feelings of pleasure is released in their brains.

‘It triggers a rush of dopamine, the neurotransmitter stimulated by lots of other pleasurable activities such as orgasms or eating chocolate,’ Professor Levitin said last week.

The neuroscientist, of McGill University, Montreal, added: ‘Dopamine is released at much lower levels by music than, say, the use of drugs and the result usually is an obsession, in which you require more and more Justin Bieber.’

滬江娛樂快訊：一張稚氣未脫的帥氣臉龐，整個(gè)人散發(fā)出青春無敵的迷人風(fēng)采，流行歌手賈斯汀-比伯(Justin Bieber)憑借一曲《Baby》成功占據(jù)全球無數(shù)少女粉絲的心。加拿大馬吉爾大學(xué)神經(jīng)科學(xué)家萊維汀對于這股不思議的偶像浪潮投入研究，他竟語出驚人地表示，在全球掀起的“賈斯汀比伯汀熱”(Bieber Fever)其實(shí)是一種病。癥狀包括尖叫、暈厥，以及不時(shí)追蹤賈斯汀·比伯的推特狀態(tài)，粉絲們對他的重度迷戀，甚至無法自我控制，而且已經(jīng)深深嵌入腦中。

萊維汀說，當(dāng)賈斯汀比伯全球4400萬粉絲不斷重復(fù)聆聽他的歌曲時(shí)，大腦會(huì)釋出一種讓人產(chǎn)生愉悅感的化學(xué)物質(zhì)多巴胺(dopamine)。“Justin Bieber的音樂促使多巴胺激增，而多巴胺是一種透過像是：性高潮或吃巧克力等行為刺激而產(chǎn)生的神經(jīng)傳遞質(zhì)。”不過，藉由音樂產(chǎn)生的多巴胺，并不如服用藥物所得到的刺激強(qiáng)烈，因此常常使人陷入著迷狀態(tài)，進(jìn)而對于賈斯汀比伯的一切充滿欲望。