"The amygdala processes the emotional salience of an object. Nostalgia accompanies the discovery of a rare film poster or an original edition of a novel. The hippocampus links that emotion to autobiographical memory, so the collector recalls not just the story of Frankenstein, but when and where they first encountered it. The prefrontal cortex helps shape the meaning of the collection, weaving these objects into the narrative of self."
"The neurochemistry of collecting further explains its appeal. Dopamine, the brain's reward neurotransmitter, spikes during the "hunt" phase, when the collector searches for a missing piece or negotiates a new acquisition (Mueller, 2019). The pattern resembles goal-directed learning: Anticipation heightens arousal, and completion yields a sense of satisfaction. McIntosh and Schmeichel (2004) describe collecting as a self-regulatory process, one that transforms internal drives into structured, externally meaningful behavior."
Frankenstein evolved from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel through Boris Karloff’s 1931 portrayal to a 2025 reimagining by Guillermo del Toro, becoming a global cultural phenomenon. Collectors pursue artifacts of the monster and his maker, turning cultural symbols into private inventories. A small proportion of collectors exemplify the neuropsychology of collecting by revealing how memory, emotion, and identity intersect. The amygdala assigns emotional salience, the hippocampus links items to autobiographical memory, and the prefrontal cortex integrates collections into self-narratives. Dopamine spikes during the search or 'hunt' phase, rewarding anticipation and completion (Mueller, 2019). Collecting operates as a self-regulatory process that transforms internal drives into structured, meaningful behavior (McIntosh and Schmeichel, 2004).
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