Exploring the Mechanisms of Liking and Dopamine in Pleasure Experience

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Liking in the pleasure experience can be measured by observing behaviors like eating in rodents or facial expressions in babies. Dopamine, often associated with pleasure, is more related to the experience of wanting rather than the experience of enjoying. It generates intense desires but does not directly create pleasure. Lower dopamine levels may reduce motivation to work for pleasures, even though the capacity to like remains intact.

We've all been there: You sit down for one episode of a reality TV show, and six hours later you're sitting guiltily on the couch, blinking the screen-induced crust off your eyeballs.

Okay. Maybe you haven't been there like our team has. But it's likely you have at least one guilty pleasure, whether it's playing video games, reading romance novels or getting swept into obscure corners of TikTok. It turns out that experiencing – and studying – pleasure is not as straightforward as it might seem. And yet, pleasure is quite literally key to the survival of humanity. So today on the show, we explore the pleasure cycle: What it is, where it lives in the brain and how to have a healthier relationship with the things that make us feel good.

Want more on the brain? Email us the neuroscience you want us to talk about at shortwave@npr.org! (Also please email us if you would like to gush about any of the books you've been loving — romantasy or otherwise!)

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