Science behind the pleasure of shopping, pain of spending

It's what women have joked about for decades - that shopping is just as pleasurable as, well, intimacy.

Apparently, there's science to back it up.

When one woman took a Go-Pro camera with her while she shopped, experts studied the results.

According to analysis provided the facial tracking company called nViso, she is on a shopping high. Her eyes are wide and alert and her mouth is slightly open.

These are all signs that the pleasure center in her brain is lighting up, which experts at Univeristy of Michigan say is comparable to the joy felt after making love.

They were also surprised to learn something else.

"There is this pain that's associated with the spending and, to the best that we can tell, there seems to be this trade- off... It's weighing of pleasure versus pain when we are making that shopping decision," said Scott Rick, a University of Michigan researcher.

Facial tracking experts say the quick tightening of the lips also indicates the shopper is feeling higher levels of stress at checkout, and that she may have felt compelled to buy the clothes because they were cheap.

But beyond bargains, experts say retailers are good at getting us to spend.

"These stores are set up to set off your brain in the pleasure center. They're hitting something at your human behavior that makes you want to buy. We call it here 'buying yourself happy," said Michelle Madhock of Shefinds Media.

"There's the lights, the music, sometimes they smell good, so it's really immersing yourself in the feel good experience," said Madhock.

So that's the science behind shopping habits.. The pleasure of the hunt, the pain of spending!