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pleasure

·March 2, 2018·5 min read

In Pursuit of Pleasure, the Brain Learns to Hit the Repeat Button

According to researchers, the brain learns to reproduce brain activity patterns that lead to reward. The findings could lead to new avenues for treating addiction and OCD, researchers report.

Featured Psychology

·December 9, 2017·2 min read

People with Anhedonia Do Experience Pleasure, Just Not As Often

It is possible for those with anhedonia to enjoy experiences and feel pleasure, however, those with the disorder find it hard to maintain their positive emotions, a new study reports.

Image shows a person, a daffodil and a heart.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·May 11, 2017·4 min read

Beauty Requires Thought

Researchers report distractions can detract from the experience of beauty, and sensuous pleasures can also be beautiful.

Featured Psychology

·August 21, 2018·3 min read

Beauty is Simpler, and Less Special, Than We Realize

Analyzing the work of great philosophers and recent neuroscience research, researchers conclude certain simple features, such as symmetry and roundness, make things more attractive to us.

Image shows woman playing the violin and sheet music.

Featured Psychology

·June 14, 2016·5 min read

The Pain and Pleasure of Sad Music

A new study sheds pinpoints the ways in which people regulate their mood with the help of music.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Psychology

·April 12, 2021·5 min read

Profound Loss of Pleasure Related to Early-Onset Dementia

Study links anhedonia, or the loss of pleasure, to the early onset of frontotemporal dementia. Neuroimaging revealed symptoms of anhedonia were marked by atrophy in the frontal and striatal brain areas of those with FTD.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·November 3, 2020·5 min read

Your Favorite Music Can Send Your Brain Into a Pleasure Overload

Do you experience the chills when you hear your favorite song? Researchers used EEG to map brain activity while people listened to their favorite tunes. Findings reveal specific brain areas work together to process music, triggering the reward system and increasing dopamine release.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·January 18, 2020·2 min read

Music helps researchers find link between prediction and pleasure

Exposing subjects to music composed in an unfamiliar scale, researchers test whether reward can be derived solely from newly formed predictions.

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Neuroscience

·April 14, 2021·6 min read

Women Describe Specific Techniques to Increase Their Own Pleasure

Survey study identifies four main techniques women feel enhance their sexual pleasure. Researchers say understanding the dynamics of pleasure and satisfaction experienced during sexual encounters is critical to good sexual health overall.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·August 8, 2019·4 min read

Genetic variation contributes to individual differences in pleasure

What we find pleasurable may be down to our genetics. Researchers found nucleus accumbens activation and physical anhedonia were influenced by shared genes. The experience of pleasure and physical anhedonia also appear to share some of the same genes.

Cocaine with a needles and a razor blade are shown.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Abstracts

·October 15, 2012·4 min read

Does Motherhood Dampen Cocaine’s Effects?

Mother rats respond much differently to cocaine than female rats that have never given birth, according to new University of Michigan research that looks at both behavior and brain chemistry.